Blog 6: Unusual Materials Revision

Interiors and furniture do not have to be made from the same everyday materials. Throughout the world various interiors and furniture have been made from a variety of unusual and innovative materials. For instance, different structures have been created by using class bottles that can create a very unique, interesting structure or interior to look at.

To add an interesting look to any structure, a simple wall of glass can be added making that structure more unique and aesthetically pleasing to the wall. These walls of glass can be referred to as bottle walls. A bottle wall can be defined as a wall made out of glass bottles and a binding material. Constructing a glass bottle wall can be quite simple actually. You use the glass bottles as you would a masonry unit and then combine the bottles with adobe, sand, cement, stucco, clay, plaster, mortar, or any other joint compound.

While bottle walls are believed to have been around since Ancient Rome for aesthetic reasons, the first actual bottle house was constructed in 1902 by William F. Peck in Tonopah, Nevada. The house was constructed by using 10,000 bottles of beer and was later demolished in the early 1980's. The next known bottle house was built by Tom Kelly in Rhyolite, Nevada using 51,000 beer bottles masoned with adobe. Kelly constructed his bottle house because trees were so scarce in the Nevada desert. As the years continued many different people and even organizations continued constructing glass bottle walls and structures because it is a very good alternative to normal building products and also because the glass  bottles create such a unique and interesting environment.

Whether the structure is completely made out of glass or the structure only contains a bottle wall, a unique feel and look has been added. Glass bottles add a unique look that cannot be duplicated. They are also a great alternative building material that is also very environmentally friendly as well. This unusual material is a very functional and aesthetically unique building material.