These quirky eco-friendly homes are built entirely using waste recycled materials. Some of them are truly innovative and makes one wonder in awe at the creativity of the person designing it.
SURFACES REPORTER (SR) presents a glance at these incredible houses that are fascinating, sustainable as well as functional.
1. The Junk Castle
Located atop a defunct rock quarry in Washington State, the “Junk Castle” is constructed by Victor Moore- an artist, a high school teacher, and a writer. He created this fairytale-like structure out of total scrap and salvaged materials. The items such as washing machine components, metal, tin, dryer doors, and other scrap parts found at a local junkyard have been used to create this fascinating structure. The whole building is constructed at a total cost of just $500.
Photo Credit: David Patterson via Inhabitat
2. Glass Bottle Houses
Built by Édouard T. Arsenault out of over 25,000 recycled glass bottles, this beautiful Bottle House is a must-see tourist attraction in Cap-Egmont Prince Edward Island, Canada. He got inspiration for creating these houses after having received a postcard of a glass castle from his daughter in 1979. Then he started collecting bottles from friends, relatives, neighbours, local restaurants and community dance hall.
Photo Credit: Keith Watson via Flickr
3. Container Guest House
This beautiful, recyclable tiny home is made from two reclaimed shipping containers. Jim Poteet used two shipping containers and some additional materials to build this awesome house. This home also has an eye-catching rooftop garden and a hardwood floor.
Photo Credit: Inhabitat
4. Aviator's Villa
New-York based architecture firm- Urban Office Architecture has constructed this Aviator’s villa for a retired pilot. Salvaged aeroplane components have been used to create this villa. The idea behind designing this structure was to give its dweller the feeling of living in the open air. The home chiefly looks north, south and west.
Photo Credit: urbanofficearchitecture.com
5. Cowboy Boot House
Dan Phillips- a Huntsville artist and builder- created this 35 feet tall Cowboy Boot House from recycled and donated old junk material. The construction work of this building was finished in January 2017. Inspired by the big Hat 'n' Boots out in Seattle, Phillips always wanted to create live-in shoes that seen mostly in some classic fairy tales. However, most of the living area in the house is not actually in the boot, but in a tin-roofed bungalow attached to its backside.
Photo Credit: Dalene Zender
6. Eco-friendly Earthship Houses
Pioneered by architect Michael Reynolds, Earthships are ultra-sustainable homes made from materials such as aluminium cans, discarded tires and beer bottles. The entrance brags beautiful stucco walls with polka-dots. The cans, bottles and old tires are filled with soil and then plastered over with natural mud to form an exceptionally strong material. Although the houses are not meant to depend on mechanical cooling or heating system, they have confirmed adaptability towards desert heat. Moreover, these buildings help to remove around 500 to 5,000 tires away from the landfill.
Photo Credit: earthhomesnow.com
6. Lindisfarne Uk Upside Down Boat Shed
Near the small Lindisfarne Island- also known as Holy Island- off the northeast coast of England, the local fishermen made adroit use of the materials they had on hand when constructing their sheds. They have turned a disused boat upside down into a shade, which shows ingenuity as well as a spirit of recycling and approaching scrap innovatively.
Photo credit: Dave White via Flickr.
8. Casa De Botellas: Plastic Bottle Home
This dream home was designed by the members of the Alfredo Santa Cruz family in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina from 1,200 PET plastic waste bottles. Every piece of this structure evokes creativity and sustainability. It is said that PET remains intact for more than 300 years, which is more durable and stronger than cement. The bottles are properly combined with self-invented casting technology.
Photo Credit: Planet Magazine.
9. Cano’s Castle in Antonito Colorado
Countless soda and beer cans, hubcaps, wooden windows, grills, bicycle reflectors, screen doors and other metal shards have been used to create this incredible structure. Designed by Donald “Cano” Espinosa, a Native American Vietnam vet spent around 30 years working on this project. He was inspired by “Vitamin Mary Jane” and Jesus and created this castle to pay tribute to them for making him survive the Vietnam War.
Photo credit: www.outtherecolorado.com
10. Recycled Pallet House
Designed by I-Beam Design, this Pallet house is built from spare wooden pallets and anyone can assemble this house as it comes with IKEA style assembly instructions. It was originally designed as a transitional shelter for refugees returning to Kosovo. However, anyone who wishes to construct a shelter without carpentry knowledge can build it even in less than $100.
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Photo Credit: I-Beam Design