Newspaper furniture, bike tire hammocks and liquor bottle lights are just a few of the things University students will see today at the University Recreation Center from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The University architecture students in the elective course titled [UP]cycling>[down]cycling had four hours Tuesday night to assemble sustainable furniture using only newspaper, water bottles, bike tires, glass bottles and washing machines to be presented in an exhibit today as one of their final projects for the semester.
On one of the first days of class, the students researched what materials could be used for upcycling and how to make furniture using only materials intrinsic to the product – no glue, tape, screws or other binding materials are
allowed.
“The second thing we had to do after choosing materials was go to the UREC and interview people to see what we as architecture students could do to provide for them, and really they said seating by the classrooms,” said fourth year architecture student Teresa Williams.
Each of the four groups
created its own seating: water bottle and newspaper loungers, washing machine chairs, cardboard tubes and glass bottle seating and lighting.
Overall, the groups collected more than 200 water bottles and 800 glass bottles.
“We did lots of stakeholder research, and the students spent a lot of time at the UREC observing people and doing lots of research trying to understand how the UREC works and the needs of UREC users,” said assistant professor Meredith Sattler. “A lot of people sat on floor in that hallway waiting for the classes to start so that’s where a lot of seating ideas came from.”
Fifth year architecture student Carolina Rodriguez said the coolest thing about this project is the way it was designed. Her group created the lounge chairs using only water bottles and copies of The Daily Reveille and DIG
Magazine.
She said the group even tried to achieve a curvature, which is a design in the shape of the chair that makes it fit the human body.
Along with each piece of furniture displayed throughout the UREC, the students created signs informing people of the different ways recycling works and some alarming statistics about the lack of recycling in the Baton Rouge community.
“The largest piece is composed of 291 water bottles, which corresponds to the number of bottles wasted everyday at the UREC,” said fourth year architecture student Tyler Detiveaux.
The group members agreed that the more time they spent on the project, the better an understanding of each water bottle’s personality they gained: Ozarka is gentle; Nestle Pure Life is weak; and Dasani is stubborn,
Detiveaux said.
Getting the necessary amount of newspaper for this project was no easy task, according to second year architecture graduate student Landon Pugh who said he spent more than 20 hours rolling newspaper last week alone.
The group said they have been collecting water bottles since before this class even started, anticipating the need for them at some point during the semester.
While one group was diligently working on creating newspaper and water bottle loungers, another was weaving a bike tire hammock.
The hammock, which now has been demoted to a sculptural piece because of the UREC’s liability concerns, is created completely from deflated bike tire tubes woven together. The hammock is tied to the railing between one of the staircases near the UREC’s front desk.
The students said they visited all of the local bike shops in order to get their materials.
The sustainability saga continues with one group that created chairs out of washing machines salvaged from a nearby apartment complex.
“Our project is based around washing machines and what we are calling ‘design for disassembly,’” said fourth year student Zachary Chatelain. “It’s basically looking at recycling and deconstruction of the components of machines and what it takes to recycle objects like this.”
The students arranged a series of washing machines that show the disassembling process and highlight facts about recycling the
disassembled parts. Another machine was upcycled to create a light
fixture, and another was upcycled to create a chair.
The final group created a multi-purpose seating and lighting structure, said fourth year student Andrew Layman. The project creates a light filtering screen with a foundation that forms seating.
To create this structure, the group connected cardboard tubes to form walls and strategically placed glass liquor bottles throughout different sections of the tubing.
Assistant professor Meredith Sattler said the class picked the UREC as the on-campus venue for the project because of the size of the UREC and its current
sustainability initiatives.
“They have significant sustainability initiatives already happening and one of the great ones is Clear Water, Green Heart, which is trying to get people not to bring disposable plastic bottles into the UREC,” said Sattler. “So, it was a lovely fit for us to be there.”
Sattler and her class were looking for a space where people are able to interact with the project, and she is most excited about
seeing the interactions.
The Upcycle Exhibition Reception is to be held in Classroom 1 and is free and open to
the public.
The exhibition will be on
display from Nov. 14 – Dec. 6.

Gallery • 16 Photos

Charles Champagne

Architecture students upcycle glass bottles into light fixtures Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2013 as part of their installation project in the LSU UREC.