01Oct08
In America, we turn trash into treasure. In Japan, they recycle by design. Case in point: Doug Aamoth’s post about this dining table made from a washing machine drum. He stumbled upon it and the coordinating chairs during a tour oversees at a Japanese recycling plant devoted to handling home appliances like refrigerators, washers, dryers, and TVs. The plant not only recycles, it apparently likes to design too.
The chairs are made of a really, really dense plastic derived from some of the bits of scrap from the various machines. It looks and feels like wood, though, and apparently there are picnic tables, chairs, and benches in nearby parks that Panasonic has supplied with this type of furniture.
Mythbuster fans will probably get a kick out of Doug’s video tour of the Panasonic recycling plant where you get to watch things get crushed, pulverized and blown up — all in a fabulously green day’s work.
Spotted at Curbly
17Sep06
As a budding interior designer I’m passionate about using materials in unexpected, innovative ways–in particular when there’s an opportunity to transform the mundane into art. Architect Tadao Ando’s recent design of the new Morimoto Restaurant in New York makes a sparkling example.
The Concept:A nearly two-story-high freestanding water wall created from 17,400 half-liter plastic bottles were then filled with mineral water and screwed into electric-socketlike couplers. LED point light were integrated into the structure to backlight the bottles and create a shimmery effect.The restaurant is featured in this month’s special Interiors Issue of Architectural Record but doesn’t specifically mention if the bottles were recycled. I’m assuming if they were gathered then filled they probably were. If not, the idea is a stunner that has eco-friendly capabilities.The Fab Factor:A marriage of recycled plastic water bottles with LED point lights creates an surprisingly gorgeous feature wall.Are you an Iron Chef like me? Why not go on an epicurean quest and tell us about it. I can live vicariously through you.Morimoto-New York88 Tenth Ave., at 16th St.212.989.8883Morimoto-Philadelphia723 Chestnut Street215.413.9070*Designed by Karim Rashid – It’s a luscious LED-explosion.Via Architectural Record
