The project’s working hypothesis is that design should think beyond the product and consider the waste for future use. The intersection of local and global distribution and recycling circuits forms the basis of UNITED_BOTTLE – the form of newly designed PET/PP bottles can efficiently fit into standardized shipping boxes, and can be filled with found materials to be used as prefabricated building units for the construction of both temporary and permanent structures.  

Premise
Fifty billion PET bottles are currently circulating in Europe alone.  Since the obligatory bottle deposit was introduced, the return quota has exceeded 90 percent. PET bottles can be used as returnable bottles as well as recycled, and transformed into a variety of products - from all forms of PET vessels to textiles, such as linings and fleece fabrics.  This process - called "up-cycling" - mostly occurs in China, while the final products are sold again on the European market.  This intersection of local and global circuits forms the basis of the project "United Bottle." Taken into consideration the increasing scarcity of resources, "United Bottle" suggests additional recycling circuits to those existing ones.  The project's working hypothesis is that future design should think beyond the product, and design the waste the project will turn into - in order to open up possibilities for prospective use and abuse.  The PET bottle offers an ideal model with which to study and implement this design agenda.



United Shelter
"United Bottle" is a PET water bottle and prefabricated building unit.  Leading producers of mineral water as well as NGOs use it for their water sales or distribution. The bottle is integrated into the regular PET recycling circuits. It arrives in foiled six-packs on palettes at the local stores and is collected and recycled with the help of a bottle deposit system.  In the case of crisis, the bottles are taken from those circuits and distributed via the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner or Refugees) into the respective zones.  In combination with a mechanical water pump, they are used for local water distribution.  "United Bottle" allows for solar drinking water disinfection (SODIS).  For local distribution, 9 bottles form a stable unit that can be carried by a single person.  The tuck-in system generates secure connections that resist torsion.  This system also enhances its suitability as a building material. In combination with UN tent blankets, for example, "United Bottle" functions as a solid shelter construction and as a water reservoir. 



Filled with local materials, "United Bottle" turns into construction material for temporary or even long-term shelter.  Local knowledge of building techniques, improvisation, and misuse of consumer waste is employed to build small free-standing buildings and to extend and repair existing structures.

About INSTANT Architects
Dirk Hebel and Jörg Stollmann are co-founders and principals of INSTANT. INSTANT works at the intersection of architecture, nature, technology and communication, foregrounding the body as a biological and social construct in order to develop research projects and architectural practice on various scales. Recent projects include the international traveling exhibition INVENTIONEERING_ARCHITECTURE, the private home HAUS_BLICK  in Duesseldorf and the installation ON_AIR in Berlin. Hebel studied at ETH Zurich and received his M. Arch from Princeton University. Stollmann studied at UdK Berlin and received his M. Arch from Princeton University. They have held teaching positions at UdK Berlin, TU Berlin, Princeton University, and American University of Shariah, and they currently teach at ETH Zurich. For more information visit http://www.instant-arch.net.  

Links

Red Dot Design Award goes to INSTANT for UNITED_BOTTLE
Zürich based architecture office INSTANT has won the RED DOT Design Award 2007, “best of the best: design concept,” for their project UNITED_BOTTLE. With nearly 6,.000 submissions from 52 countries, the RED DOT Design Award is one of the world’s biggest design competitions. Three different categories are advertised and judged by independently: product design, communication design, and design concept.
 
The Red Dot is awarded to projects of outstanding design judged according to the following criteria: innovation, functionality, form, ergonomic qualities, symbolic and emotional connotation and immeadiate readability.
 
INSTANT architects (Dirk Hebel & Jörg Stollmann with Tobias Klauser) are also nominated for the Lanxess Award(product development) and for the Luminiere Award (best design 2007). The winners will be announced on November 30 in Singapore.
 
In Mayi 2007, UNITED_BOTTLE won INSTANT the Van Alen Fellowship 2007/2008. Additionally, the project is nominated for the German Packaging Award 2007.

Read more on red dot online.

United Bottle Participate!
Opening reception
Full-scale testing and participatory involvement of prospective users is crucial to UNITED_BOTTLE’s design development. During their spring 2008 fellowship term at Van Alen Institute, Hebel and Stollmann launched the "UNITED_BOTTLE Participate!" campaign, soliciting over twenty designers, architects, critics and prospective secondary users to imagine potential implementation concepts and design proposals for UNITED_BOTTLE.  
 
An exhibition at Van Alen Institute in New York, United States, opening Friday, 28 March 2008 and running through April 25, 2008, will include a full-scale bottle shelter that tests a range of building materials and construction methods, as well as all submissions to the "Participate!" campaign.  Contributors include Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano of lot/ek architecture in New York, Nasrine Seraji of Atelier Seraji in Paris, Teddy Cruz of Estudio Teddy Cruz in San Diego, Meron Kassahun and Tibebu Daniel Desta of Addis Ababa, and John Habraken, the Dutch architect responsible for designing the Heineken WOBO (World Bottle) produced in 1963. 

Read more on the Van Alen Institute website.