P.E.T Wall

This was a group project done in my first year of architecture school. The objective of the project was to create a plane (floor, wall, ceiling, partition, anything planar really) out of used objects(our group happens to choose 2 litre PET soda bottles.....1200++ of them). I am not sure people would actually see this and replicate the whole thing,nevertheless i hope you will enjoy it

Step 1: Materials and Tools

2 Litre PET soda bottles, a mixture of clear and green bottles.(we went dumpster diving for a few days to get all the bottles)

Hot wire for cutting foam (in this case used for cutting the bottles)

Some medite to make couple of jig

Hole saw drill bit that would make a hole just big enough for the mouth of the soda bottles

safety mask to protect yourself from the toxic fume when cutting the bottles with hot wire cutter

Step 2: Cut the Bottles

Clean the inside of the bottles and remove most, if not all of the labels.

Cut as many bottles as you wish.

You will end up with four parts, the mouth, upper, middle and bottom.

Flatten the bottle, put it in jig 2 and drill the four holes.

The middle part of the bottle once pressed and flattened will be the building block of the plane, the mouth becomes the connector between individual building block.

Do not throw the upper and bottom part of the bottle, they are essential for the structural integrity of the plane.

Step 3: Assembly

Now that you have amassed a large amount of these bottle parts, its time to put them together.

The assembling of one bottle to another is quite self explanatory.
overlap the flatten and drilled , put the mouth of bottle through the hole, screw the cap on.

to stand the plane up, our idea was to create a pocket in the plane so that it can be filled with the upper and bottom part of the bottle hence creating wider base.

Step 4: ENJOY!

I still have all the bottle parts in the basement waiting for their uncertain future if your'e living in the Chicago area and want to take them away please leave a comment. I hope you guys enjoy my very first Instructables, i will leave you with some pictures of the finished project and as D.r. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A. say " EMMY PLEASE!" (or in this case Solar-powered backpack from Voltaic, the Converter please!)

Comments

[inkstainedheart]

This is a really great idea--I need a separator for my apartment, but I'm going to try a less rippled effect. I think I'm going to drill holes in the corners instead and wire the pieces together. That way they can be suspended from the ceiling or a framework. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Lavoz24]

instead of using wire you could make string from the bottles and use that to tie and string them up. Look up "string" from plastic bottles on here. It's an easy ible to do and it's completely green.

[Lavoz24]

if you get dark colored bottles you could make a wall separator. Thanks for the idea.

[becker990]

good idea for some walling or roofing!!

[linuxkid]

wait, this isn't public art?

[Lori04]

I'm making a lamp right now with pet bottles.. but I have too many so.. i might do something like this as well!! is an amazing idea!!! congratulations!!

[tdbtdb]

How did you flatten the middles? Why is that not explained? Just put a brick on top?

[virtualnoodles]

Once he cut off bottom and "upper" he had a ring he did not cut this ring he simply squished it flat making a square which is kept flat by the bolts

[Gen R]

Hi ,, how did you "flat" the bottle ???

[fairygodmother1]

The economy of the design is simply elegant. Beautiful project!

[Helcura]

I'd bet you could make cool shoji screens with this technique.

[riverplate]

Dear Dude!!

You had a great idea, way cool, very green idea!! Let me tell you why.
I live in San Diego, but I do have a huge building in Revolution Avenue, Downtown Tijuana, In Baja California, Mexico.
Tijuana recycles just about everything that San Diego throws away, and I do mean everything. We do have concerts in our small venue, in which we sell a lot of sodas in plastic containers. We thought of a wall, as a decorative for the huge building, but your application of use to these plastic bottles, is uniquely original. We are going to apply your creativity, we will give you full credit as the designer, we will give credit to instructables, and further more, if you have any more ideas please pass them along to us.
I am almost on the final concept of creating a large cover up to what it is an old facade for the second floor, utilizing recycle materials, that will also served as ventilation for that second floor, out of the moderate to strong westerly breezes from the Pacific ocean.
I want to make this building as green as possible from everything recycle, to promote in Baja California, "GREEN: ideas, concepts, construction that will make the city of Tijuana, and the state of Baja greener.

Thanks a lot!

[handprints]

absolutely beautiful piece of art!

[naftalisus]

Its beautiful! I think that hanging 4 panels, with one strung over the top would give you a very pleasing outdoor space, no? Looks like you've got a bright future in architecture!

[mlk09010]

how much do you think it would be to ship the pieces to VT?

[GEEK1]

interesting idea

[Gorfram]

Yowsa! This is so totally cool!!! Killer design!
The caps-&-mouths as nuts-&-bolts is absolutely stark raving brilliant!

Admittedly, I'd try for a more aethetically pleasing layout if I went to reproduce this; but it's this work of yours that shows that it can be done at all.

Applications might include an outdoor garden screen, to provide privacy or help baffle wind. The conical "pouches" you used to make it free-standing have inpired me: if I used only green bottles and cut the middle sections into nicely tapered trapezoids; this could make a really cool artificial Christmas tree, nicely decorated with brightly-colored bottle caps. :)

As to whether you poisoned yourself using the hot knife on the PET bottles, allow me to plagarize and plunder Wikipedia :

When PET degrades due to heating or burning, the only chemical given off (other than hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen) is acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is an organic chemical compound with a fruity smell. It occurs naturally in ripe fruit, coffee, and fresh bread; and is produced by plants as part of their normal metabolism. When you drink an alcoholic beverage, your liver converts the ethanol into acetaldehyde, which is then further converted into harmless acetic acid. Acetaldehyde is extremely flammable, but toxic only when applied externally for prolonged periods.
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyethylene_terephthalate, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetaldehyde)

So, assuming you didn't capture the acetaldehyde gas, convert it to liquid form, and use it as hand lotion; you probably didn't do yourself any harm. OTOH, if wearing the (yes, otherwise pretty well useless) mask kept you from lighting up any cigarettes while you were working, that may have helped minimize any fire danger (which was probably already pretty low anyway).

I'd take you up on that offer of those bottle parts in your basement, if Seattle weren't so inconveniently far from Chicago... :)

[Lance Mt.]

Dude, i love it! Really... -Cheers, Chris

[cree888]

I like it. It has an asthetic that shows creativity thru breaking of conventional rules of recycling. It could be used as a sheer curtain if all colored bottles were used. I think also it could be hung in some fashion and used as as shower curtain. Have to figure the problem of keeping water off the floor, however. How about using in place of glass when recycling old cabinetry? Endless possibilities. Thicker--perhaps a table. Melted together instead of screwed with bottle mouths some type of floor covering? Made into a shallow box frame add twinkle Lights and hang from the ceiling in a bar area. Like I said endless possibilities. You are only limited by color, construction type and size and whether or not you can think outside the people in the box thinking they are thinking outside the box. Creativity at its best, I say.

[bola_8611]

WOW it is awsomw what you did with thise bottles i am thinking about doing something like that there is a lot of bottles here in mexico