A bower bird creates a little palace to impress females by decorating the nest with all sorts of colorful things. He doesn't distinguish between the garbage that we leave in forests and products of nature. The only thing that matters is whether it looks pretty or not. I wanted to follow the bower birds example and show the world that you can make a high quality building of 'garbage'.
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The impression of the design is based on a cave. When you walk through the creation the bottles hanging from the ceiling that are filled with water, create a mysterious light pattern. The ropes on the open side give the illusion of lianas and create a sepparation between the open space of the landscape and the created internal space of the design without limiting the connection the surroundings intirely.
The construction is made of secondhand underlayment that is cut in a parabolic beam and put together into rafters. Together with the skin the supporting structure is stable and strong enough to carry it's own weight. The bottles are attached to the top with old bicycle tires and covered up with moss.
The structure is made up of modules that are demountable. Due to the possibility to divide the double rafters into single rafters, the modules can be separated which makes it possible to demount it and rebuild it in another location.
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To proof that this concept is worth investing in, I decided to build the project in real life.
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Date of delivery: August 1st, 2020
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Construction process
Step 1: Drawing the curve.
Starting with a couple of anker points that result from sketches, the form of the basic rafter arised. The rafter was then divided into two because the whole form could not be cut from a single sheet of the available underlayment. The basic form is now divided into a top, the arc, and a foot, the stand.
Step 2: Assembling the rafters
When the mold was final, the sawing could begin and the different parts (arc and stand) were reconnected. For one rafter, two complete shapes are needed and combined with the blocks as spacers. To make the structure detachable, only one of the rafter parts is attached with staples. The other is attached with screws, so that when the structure in completed, the modules can be separated and put back together somewhere else.
Step 3: Connecting the rafters
When a set of two mirrored rafters is finished, they can be combined to create the construction of one of the modules. To ensure that the shape is tapered in the right degree, the top, bottom and the the middle are set to predetermined dimensions.
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Step 4: Creating the skin
After the shape has been fixed, the skin can be attached. To avoid unnecessary loss of building materials, the planks are attached according to the shape of the construction on the one site and with overhang on the other side. This overhang will be cut off later and the cut off pieces can be reused to fill up another module.
In the meantime: preparing the bottles
After spending considerable time to collect the required number of empty bottles, they now needed to be cleaned and have their labels removed to prepare them for their new purpose as skylights. The bottles will eventually be inserted through holes in the roof of the structure. To make sure the bottles won't simply fall through the holes they will be wrapped in strips of rubber cut from old bicycle tires. By preparing these materials they are ready to use when the assembling at the buildingssite begins.
Step 5: Rafters for the tail
After creating the other basic modules, the deviant rafters for the 'tails' need to be calculated and produced. In order to create an organic shape the rafters decrease in height and width following a root function instead of a linear line.
Step 6: Operation transportation
All the prefabricated parts are ready to be put together but they first need to be transported to te construction site.
Step 7: Building the frame
Judgement day has arrived because today al the loose parts are going to be assembled to form the supporting structure. The prefab modules are put in place and supported by a temporary mainstay. After putting the basics modules in place, the deviant rafters are set in the right position and anchored with shores until they are stable enough to support themselfes.
Step 8: Crafting the skin
When the supporting structure is finalized the openings between the prefab modules can be filled up with the remaining pallet wood. The same goes for the deviant rafters that are now secured in to place.
Step 9: Inserting the bottles
When most of the skin is attached the holes for the bottles can be cut in the roof of the structure. Before the bottles are places in position they are filled with water and the rubber strips are tied around the bottom to assure they are properly secured.
In the meantime: gathering the moss
While the constructing is going steady, the moss is rolled into slabs that can be put directly on the roof. The moss will darken the inside even more and strengthen the effect of the bottles even more.
Step 11: Applying the moss
To camouflage the bottles that are now sticking out of the top of the structure, moss is applied to the upper sections. To make sure the bottles still capture enough sunlight, to create a glowing effect, the moss is parted around the bottles. With the moss in place the final fase of finetuning the details is finished and the nest of the bower bird is open for visitors.
Step 10: Hanging the ropes
Ropes of diameters sizes are cut into various lengths and attached to the inner edge of the structure. The addition of the ropes separates the interior parts of the structure from the outside world to enhance the effect of the bottle skylights and draw them into focus by blocking out part of the sunlight.
This work was open to visitors from the 1st of August 2020 until the 1st of September that same year. It is now located in Hoogkerk as part of a private garden.
