This Indonesian library is made of 2000 recycled ice cream tubs
This Indonesian library is made of 2000 recycled ice cream tubs
Instead of clogging waterways, plastic helped create this small but stunning library in Indonesia
A tiny library in Bandung, Indonesia opened last month, and it’s attracting attention worldwide not for its inventory of obscure tomes but for an ingenious design.
Apparently, used ice cream buckets make up its walls.
Architect Florian Heinzelmann of Dutch design firm Shau created a 1,720-square-feet “micro-library” whose walls utilise 2,000 plastic buckets, sourced from an online merchant.
The library, located in the village of Taman Bima, is “a communal center where people can mingle and read,” Heinzelmann said. Apart from improving literacy in Indonesia, Heinzelmann hopes the library would foster environmental awareness, since some of the country’s beaches and waterways have been clogged with a growing amount of plastic waste.
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While it’s not readily apparent to casual onlookers, the wall of buckets actually spell out, in binary code, the sentence: “Books are the windows to the world.” The bottom of the buckets signifies number one while the other end represents zero.
Placed in between vertical steel ribs, the buckets are oriented in such a way as to be able to repel rainwater. Also, because the tubs are not too opaque, readers will be making the most of natural light by day. The walls also optimise natural ventilation.
The library actually sits on the first floor, and can be accessed by stairs beside a ground floor that can be used for a variety of communal functions.
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Source: Property Report