Tag Archives: Recycled design

Flatpack cardboard room dividers made from repurposed shipping containers are the easy-to-store furniture you need!

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Nook is a collection of desk and room dividers made from repurposed cardboard shipping containers.

It’s said that it takes a little over twenty minutes to get back to work after a distraction. Whether you’re working from home, your local coffee shop, or a busy office–distractions are everywhere. Designing a means for privacy, Just Booth is a Polish acoustic pod brand that develops sound booths where you can retreat for privacy during the workday. Following a competition held by Just Booth and the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź where designers were asked to repurpose Just Booth cardboard boxes, Patrycja Gorzela designed Nook.

Designed in two different sizes, Nook is a collection of desk and room dividers made from disused Just Booth cardboard shipping containers. Amidst busy offices, distractions can come at any moment. Conceptualized as a means for workers to get quiet concentration time, the collection of smaller dividers can be configured on desks to create a small working zone. Then, to divide larger rooms into working sections, Nook comes in a fuller size to create a sense of privacy. Super lightweight and slim by nature, the collection of desk and room dividers can easily be rearranged to fit various needs.

No matter where we work, private zones help get the job done. When we’re in need of a little extra privacy during the workday, Nook is able to provide just that. Initially designed for a competition hosted by Just Booth and the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, Nook is a sustainable and practical means to provide quiet working zones in busy places.

Designer: Patrycja Gorzela

The post Flatpack cardboard room dividers made from repurposed shipping containers are the easy-to-store furniture you need! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This micro hotel structured from repurposed sea freight containers is energy-efficient and modular for the modern traveler!

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My Home, from German architecture firm Containerwerk, is a line of temporary hotel living quarters constructed from recycled sea freight containers for an energy-efficient, affordable, and micro-sized escape for the modern traveler.

Modern design wears many faces. From smart micro-technology to DIY minimalist architecture, the design of tomorrow is changing. Shipping containers also seem to nod towards the future. Championing a new charge of contemporary hotel concepts and travel solutions, repurposed shipping containers have become the shell for travelers across the globe.

My Home, a solution-based hotel solution, was designed by Germany-based architecture firm Containerwerk to provide a line of temporary living quarters for the modern traveler. Comprising a line of 21 hotel modules in the guise of repurposed sea freight containers, My Home was conceptualized specifically to provide company employees with hotel accommodations that don’t skimp out on elevated design elements or maximal comfort.

Affordability and design elements that feel high-end are among today’s top criteria when it comes to hotels. Adding to that, the architects at Containerwerk note, “ Guests’ expectations in terms of design and comfort are rising, and at the same time, sustainable hotel concepts are in demand.”

Enter My Home–completed in February 2020, the energy-efficient modules that make up the line of repurposed shipping containers measure 26sqm and are kept warm during colder months through a patented, high-performance insulation method. Constructed to fit four people comfortably, each module contains enough room for a fully equipped kitchenette, private terrace, separate entrance, light-flooded dining, and working area.

Lined with solar panels and bolstered with locally-sourced timber building material, each module that makes up My Home is built on a commitment to sustainability and practicality.

The supplemental luxuries that outfit most hotels, such as daily room cleaning and freshening up of bed linens aren’t forgotten with My Home either. Containerwerk developer suggests, “It is important to me that every guest feels at home. The apartments offer a feel-good factor, privacy, and yet maximum flexibility.”

Designer: Containerwerk

In order to start and finish the My Home project from a sustainable vantage point, the shipping containers require little to no excavation during the construction process. 

For their versatile geometric shape, each repurposed shipping container becomes a stackable module that doubles the interior living space when put together.

An alternative anchoring process that involves welding allows each module to station to the floor with little alteration to the terrain’s original state. 

The post This micro hotel structured from repurposed sea freight containers is energy-efficient and modular for the modern traveler! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This line of prefab tiny homes built from disused shipping containers proves that less is more!

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VMD (Vivienda Minima de Descanso) from STUDIOROCA is a line of prefabricated tiny homes built from disused shipping containers in Mexico, with an interior equipped with off-grid capabilities and simple luxuries.

These days, everyone’s downsizing. Tiny homes have become the answer to our neverending quest for a smaller carbon footprint and campers bring us that much closer to the mobile lifestyle each one of us dreams about. For Mexico-based architecture firm, STUDIOROCA, shipping containers hold the key.

After asking the question of our times, “What would you do with less?”, Rodrigo Alegre and Carlos Acosta of STUDIOROCA pumped out a line of prefabricated homes, VMD (Vivienda Minima de Descanso) constructed from disused shipping containers.

STUDIOROCA designed the line of prefabricated homes to provide a “no-fuss, low-cost building solution,” outfitting the exterior and interior with environmentally friendly materials and smart home automation systems. Tracing the interior’s open layout, each one-bedroom shipping container provides an open-plan kitchenette, a dining area, and living space on one end, then a bathroom and storage space can be found in the middle, whereas the bedroom finds privacy on its own end.

The distinguishable corrugated siding on the shipping container’s exterior is constructed from black Hunter Douglass Quadroline aluminum, which merges into gray Valchromat Viroc cement-bonded particle board, giving the home a rich, industrial look amidst natural surroundings. Constructed to last, the exterior of VMD shipping containers is resistant against water and fire, non-toxic, thermally insulating, and sound-dampening, providing a quiet, safe retreat.

Following a minimal-impact assembly process, each shipping container from STUDIOROCA’s VMD line is constructed in an offsite factory over the span of three months to be installed within a time frame of only seven days. While each prefab home can be customized to fit the taste of each client, they also come with preset elements.

The flooring, for instance, comes from FSC-certified engineered oak and each home comes equipped with smart home appliances. After choosing between a 320-square-foot one-bedroom home, 640-square-foot two-bedroom home, or a 640-square-foot three-bedroom home, clients can add on elements like an outdoor deck and off-grid capacities.

Designer: STUDIOROCA

The post This line of prefab tiny homes built from disused shipping containers proves that less is more! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This tiny home in Brazil coated in bright colors inside and out is formed from two disused shipping containers!

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Estúdio Lapinha in Belo Horizonte, Brazil is a tiny home constructed out of two conjoined shipping containers, designed by architecture studio Plano Livre.

The variations of tiny homes today seem to be endless. We’ve seen tiny houses with roofs that unfurl and expand to reveal concealed bedroom lofts. Then, there are the tiny home designs that can be assembled from flat-pack DIY kits. However, the most frequented choice for designers and architects of tiny homes has to be disused shipping containers.

By design, the corrugated steel boxes are prepared for every season and all the elements that come with them. In Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Plano Livre, a Minas Gerais-based architecture studio, designed and constructed Estúdio Lapinha, a tiny home formed out of two conjoined shipping containers.

Initially conceived for Casacor, an annual architectural show that takes place in Minas Gerais, the infrastructure and layout of Estúdio Lapinha were designed to be transported from Casacor’s exhibition space to a permanent residence. Finding transportability in shipping containers, the architects at Plano Livre merged two together to have one function as an infrastructural module and the other as the home’s living module.

The hydraulics of Estúdio Lapinha reside in the former module, while all of the home’s furniture and living spaces are located in the latter. By creating a dynamic tiny home out of modular shipping containers, Plano Livre constructed Estúdio Lapinha to be flexible and indeterminate in shape and size–a tiny home that can be expanded upon over time.

The tiny home’s exterior has been painted a muted lime green to complement the lush greenery that surrounds and completely immerses Estúdio Lapinha. Propped up on a wooden patio, Estúdio Lapinha finds height and rises alongside the trees and tall grasses nearby. Located on one side of Estúdio Lapinha, residents can lounge in a trampoline hammock just beyond the main bedroom’s expansive French doors.

Inside, bright painted walls and tiled flooring delineate each room and pay homage to Brazil’s colorful personality. The living and sleeping areas are the only parts of the home that find warmth in natural, unstained wooden paneling. The sofa’s back doubles as the bed’s headboard to provide a subtle and functional partition.

Throughout the home, steel shelving units provide extra storage space for bulkier items like heavy books and houseplants, tracing the ceiling from the kitchen to the cerulean blue bathroom. In addition to the expansive, floor-to-ceiling French doors, the home’s ceiling is painted the same green as its exterior to bring the home that much closer to the outdoors.

Designer: Plano Livre

Coated in cerulean blue, Estúdio Lapinha’s bathroom feels open and bright. 

Sliding floor-to-ceiling glass doors dissolve the barrier between the studio’s insides and the surrounding outdoors.

The replaceable heads of this minimal toothbrush are made from recycled thermoplastic!

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Clip is a new toothbrush concept made from recycled polypropylene with replaceable heads for when bristles fray.

There always comes the day when toothbrush bristles fray. If you use a standard manual toothbrush, then frayed bristles mean the whole toothbrush needs to be replaced. If you use an electric toothbrush, then the old toothbrush head can be traded in for a new, clean one.

Whichever toothbrush you prefer, replacing frayed bristles comes at a price. It’s costly, wasteful, and inconvenient. That’s why Edo Kim and Yeseul Kim, designers based out of London, designed Clip, a minimal toothbrush with a replaceable head.

Citing the high number of materials used to create conventional toothbrushes, Edo and Yeseul made sure to design Clip so that far fewer materials are needed for manufacturing. Made from recycled polypropylene, Clip takes on the traditional shape of manual toothbrushes.

Clip’s hollow unibody also remains intact over time and use due to polypropylene’s highly durable, long-lasting makeup. Compared to manual toothbrushes on the market, Edo and Yeseul decided to use far less plastic and nylon, replacing both materials with the recycled thermoplastic.

In doing so, the demand for energy used to manufacture plastic toothbrushes is lessened and less pollution is created as a result. When the bristles on Clip fray, users can swap out heads simply by popping out the old one and clicking the new head into place with a push-button locking mechanism. Since Clip’s unibody handle is made from such durable material, the actual toothbrush will last a long time and when the bristles on Clip’s head begin to fray, a new head can easily replace it.

Designers: Edo Kim and Yeseul Kim

Besides white, Clip would come in pastel shades of yellow, pink, green, and blue.

Bosnian man builds a spinning home for his wife that can complete a full rotation in only 22 seconds!

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In the town of Srbac, Bosnia, a 72-year-old man transformed his family home into a rotating duplex for his son, daughter-in-law, and beloved wife.

We do what we can for the ones we love. Some might surprise their partner with a romantic holiday, let a friend borrow their car, or cover the tab at a boozy brunch. In Bosnia, a 72-year-old man named Vojin Kusic built a rotating home for his wife, ljubica, following her wish for both their bedroom and living room to face the sun. Some of us do what we can, and then some.

From inside their rotating home, the couple is gently woken up by the sun over fertile grasslands in the morning. Then, come high afternoon while sitting in the living room, the Kusic’s are warmed by natural sunlight and positioned in the ideal spot to keep an eye on who’s coming to visit them. Borrowing electric motors and wheels from an old military transport vehicle, Vojin Kusic built the rotating home with his own two hands.

When Vojin built his family’s first home, he oriented it so that his and his wife’s bedroom faced the sun, but as the years went by, the Vusics realized their need to supervise the driveway from their living room. This realization gave way to their spinning house. Spinning on a 7-meter axis, at its slowest speed, Vojin’s home completes a rotation in 24 hours and at its fastest, the home can turn around in 22 seconds.

Remodeling their family home served more than the purpose of fulfilling ljubica’s wish, as Vojin transformed the home’s topmost level into a loft for his son and wife to live, while the downstairs remained reserved for the parents. While the renovation required a lot of manual labor and electrical rewiring, the rotating feature was inspired and designed all by Vojin’s natural wit.

Designer: Vojin Kusic

Two DIYers built this off-grid micro-cabin from repurposed steel and recycled building material for almost no cost!

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Nathalie and Greg Kupfer’s micro-cabin is built from repurposed waste findings and secondhand furnishings, outfitted with rainwater collection sites and solar systems for off-grid living.

We each have our own budget shopping tricks. Some of us hit up department store sale racks, some hoard coupons and bring them out just in time for the holidays, and then a rare few know just the right dumpster where they’ll find the perfect lamp or photo frame to clean up and decorate the living room for free. Two select DIYers of that rare few found most of the structural and interior design elements for their new off-grid, micro-home in sidewalk waste piles and handoffs from friendly neighbors.

Retired industrial designer and former paramedic, Nathalie and Greg Kupfer began work on their off-grid micro-cabin in Canmore, Alberta after receiving a plot of ranch land and a decrepit shed from two neighbors. Following the cabin’s fortuitous beginnings, the Kupfer’s conceived a layout for their snug, solar-powered, 97-square-foot micro cabin built from recycled and repurposed outfittings, amounting to a total net cost of only $50.

During a summer spent collecting building material and constructing their new micro-home, the Kupfer’s found all they needed from neighborly help. Finding new purpose in discarded steel, the Kupfer’s cast the micro cabins siding in steel for an all-season, durable finish. Receiving a seemingly down-and-out garden shed from a neighbor, Nathalie and Greg scored insulation material and glazed windows to keep the home warm during colder months and to bring sweeping views inside the cabin’s domed 14-foot ceiling. Finally, by relocating gravel from the cabin’s driveway to the kitchen, the Kupfer’s designed and built a gabion wall behind the kitchen’s wood stove.

Before selling the materials that weren’t used for the cabin’s construction, the forested retreat cost the couple $2,109. Included in the project’s net cost, Nathalie and Greg put out an additional $20 to build and furnish an outhouse on the property. Once the cabin’s build reached completion, the DIYers got back almost all of the $2,109 they spent on construction by selling unneeded building material they bought through bartering.

Designers: Nathalie and Greg Kupfer

This puffer jacket is filled with single-use masks and shows the pandemic-related environmental issues!

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The pandemic has led to a huge lifestyle shift and in the bid to stay safe, the environment is suffering from the excessive use of plastic to wrap items, chemicals to sanitize, and the millions (or billions) of single-use PPE that eventually contribute to pollution. There are photographs of medical masks floating in the ocean with the animals and washing up on beaches is a heartbreaking sight. To bring this issue to light, designers Tobia Zambotti and Aleksi Saastamoinen created Coat-19, an icy blue puffer jacket made of discarded single-use masks, organic wool, and transparent recycled laminate.

The designers are based in Iceland that still has a mask mandate. Icelandic winds can be very strong so masks that aren’t carefully discarded blow from the streets into the otherwise pristine environment. To prevent this from happening they collected around 1500 light-blue masks from the streets of Reykjavík, thoroughly disinfected them with ozone gas, and shipped them to Helsinki where they became an unusual filling for “Coat-19” – a modern puffer jacket that highlights this absurd pandemic-related environmental issue.​

Most of the disposable masks available in the market are made with a thermoplastic called polypropylene which is also used to produce poly-fill, the most common acrylic stuffing for cheap down jackets – same material, same function, different look. Some of the light-blue masks were partly filled with organic cotton wool in order to create the puffy silhouette of the trendy oversized jacket.

The outer layer is a semi-transparent breathable and waterproof laminate based made from bio-sources that let the disposable masks be visible.​ There are about 1500 masks that make the filling along with organic cotton wool. While the sight is jarring, it is a reminder we all need to practice safety sustainably. We may come out of this pandemic or learn to live with it, but the climate crisis is not something we can solve with a shot. This is a plea to use alternatives if possible so that your safety in the present doesn’t compromise on the future of the planet.

Designer: Tobia Zambotti and Aleksi Saastamoinen

Built from repurposed roofing tiles, this exhibition space is inspired by natural cave dwellings and tree canopies!

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H&P Architects created entire facades out of tile waste found on Vietnam’s streets for Ngói Space, wrapping the city building in curtains of terracotta tile to produce a distinct look that uses light and shadows to challenge conventional architecture’s sense of space and give the building a microclimate quality unique to its framework.

Architects have felt inspired by natural dwellings for as long they’ve been building their own. Taking cues from the area’s surrounding landscape and proximate building material, architects are better able to integrate nature and its organic structure into their designs. Vietnam-based architecture firm, H&P Architects, found inspiration in the natural canopies and stratification of banyan fig trees as well as the assorted and multilayered chambers found in caves for Ngói Space, a new exhibition center built from repurposed tile construction waste.

The tile that constructs Ngói Space is familiar to Vietnam’s cityscape as it is more commonly used on roofs throughout urban provinces. H&P Architects created entire facades out of tile waste found on Vietnam’s streets for Ngói Space, wrapping the city building in curtains of terracotta tile to produce a distinct look that uses light and shadows to challenge conventional architecture’s sense of space and give the building a microclimate quality unique to its framework. A country known for tilework architecture, Vietnam’s crumbling tiled buildings are often demolished with little regard to the construction waste produced from the tile.

While the tiles are familiar to the roofs and ceilings of Vietnam, H&P gave discarded tiles new life by using them to build facades. Offering new life to Vietnamese tilework architecture and the building material itself, H&P Architects constructed Ngói Space’s frame entirely from concrete and wrapped it up with 2,000 ‘viglacera dong anh tiles’ that created beveled facades. The building is formed from concrete casting and glass windows, which are wrapped in tilework facades to create a unique exterior display.

A roof provides an outdoor seating area for guests to enjoy their drinks or just lounge around under the sun. The multi-story building functions as a large communal space, with different activity offerings on each level. Moving through the cavern-like halls cast from concrete, sunlight filters through the crisscrosses of tiled facades to brighten the building’s industrial interior. On the first floor, guests can gather and enjoy coffee or tea either indoors or out on the terrace before moving to the upper levels where seminar and exhibition spaces fill each floor. Then, the roof provides a space for people to gather outdoors and enjoy the full breadth of sunlight.

Terraces throughout the building are able to stay cool thanks to the microclimate quality the tiles create. Speaking on the building’s repurposed tilework, H&P Architects note, “The Ngói space was created as an inspiring solution to reusing these memory-filled tiles. On a larger scale, it orientates users towards a sustainable tomorrow, from the perspective of reaching back to the past to recognize and rediscover the core and hidden values of the original space and use those values to create spaces of the future.”

Designer: H&P Architects

The building’s concrete interior takes inspiration from natural caves to bring warmth to an otherwise industrial setting.

The triangles formed from repurposed tilework provide plenty of views of the surrounding area.

Sunlight that filters through the tilework creates mesmerizing puzzles of light on the building’s ceilings and floors.

Interior walls are more tightly packed with tiles to provide a dense, fuller feel.

At night, the golden light that pours out from Ngói Space helps it shine like a lantern in the dark.

This sustainable home produces energy and stores excess solar power in two Tesla powerwalls!

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An essential pillar of AMA–Austin Maynard Architects is sustainability. Whether that be achieved through solar energy, Tesla batteries, external Venetian blinds, or all the above–building homes that leave small footprints on our environment is something of the utmost importance for the architects at Austin Maynard. Finishing work on their Garden House, the team of designers has built their most sustainable house yet, one that works as a power station, producing more sustainable energy than it uses.

On average, the Australian home uses 19 kWh of energy on any given day. Turning that statistic on its head, Garden House produces 100kwh of energy with help from a 26 kWh Tesla battery. Finding the future of home sustainability through this sharing of energy, Garden House is powered by solar energy and powers the block’s shared energy grid. Since many Australians utilize solar panels to power up their homes, Garden House is in good company on a narrow street filled with garden oases and blooming greenery. Careful not to disrupt the natural terrain in and around the house’s lot, AMA developed Garden House’s layout and connected pavilions based around the network of pre-existing garden spaces and trees. This set the stage and literally the foundation for the home’s commitment to producing more sustainable energy than it requires to run.

The architects behind Garden House ensured that the home utilized passive building techniques, filling out the roof with solar panels in addition to outfitting the inside with double studded wall insulation, underfloor insulation, formed from an insulated concrete slab. Even the building materials used were chosen for their sustainable edge, opting for recycled bricks to build the home’s linked pavilions behind its shingled white garage. Inside, the home does not require any gas for internal insulation of any kind–hot water, space heating and cooling, hydronic heating, and pool heating is all supplied through highly efficient heat pumps. In addition to being a fully automated smart home that runs on two Tesla power walls, the designers also did not disrupt the lot’s original landscape and natural greenery in building Garden House.

Tucked away in a lush paradise of a backyard, Garden House is a lot more than meets the eye. At first glance, Garden House’s garage showcases a humble home with a pentagon frame wrapped in optic white shingles. Beyond the garage, linked brick pavilions connect family rooms and bedrooms and appear as separate buildings entirely, joined only by mirrored glass corridors that reflect the surrounding leafy gardens. Each pavilion was designed to break up the bulk of the home into four smaller scale zones. Inside each section of the home, concealed doors grant access to the whole home as well as the garden. Open balconies and lofty kitchen doors open up to the gardens, filling the home and its garden with a paradisal air.

Designer: Austin Maynard Architects

Using the home’s side entryway, the humble garage transforms into a lush backyard garden joined by concealed brick pavilions.

From the street, Garden House appears as a simple, pentagon-shaped home wrapped in optic white shingles.

Beyond the garage, Garden House blossoms into the family home that it is, accommodating five family members.

The home’s linked brick pavilions house bedrooms and family rooms that are connected by mirrored glass corridors.

The inside of the home features brick interiors for a rustic look in an otherwise extremely modern home.

Two Tesla power walls store the energy acquired from the roof’s solar panels.

Lofty doors and huge windows bring the family even closer to their backyard oasis.

Natural sunlight fills the halls and bedrooms throughout Garden House.

Ash black metal accents brighten natural wood cabinetry work.

Exterior Venetian blinds keep bedrooms from overheating due to the overflow of natural sunlight.