Bottle House

A house designed with bottles as the facade? Such a house exists in Bandung, Indonesia. This house was designed by Ridwan Kamil, an architect who is the current governor of West Java. The house is situated in the area of Cigadung, with a plot on the hook of a road. During its construction, the workers enjoyed drinking the high-caffeine beverage Red Bull. Internationally, this drink with the two Red Bull’s is known for its blue and silver can, but in Indonesia it is sold in small brown bottles. The bottles had been up-cycled from dumpsters in Bandung and nearby cities of Jakarta, Tasikmalaya, and Cirebon for half a year. He finally ended up with 30,000 bottles which were given wooden tops to replace the metal caps of the bottles. This concern came from the lack of recycling facilities in Indonesia. Ridwan had a hunch that the bottles would provide insulation, but wasn’t sure. A student from the Department of Architecture at Parahyangan Catholic University conducted a formal research to test the temperature in each room of the house. The research revealed that somehow heat was captured inside the bottles and not transferred into the space inside. This resulted in a comfortable 24 degree Celsius temperature throughout the house. It proves to show that sustainability and green design doesn’t only come from designing green roofs, and adding fancy solar panels, but can also come from the simplest of things, such as a bottle.