Instead of cutting down trees, re-use glass bottles to form the structure of your home. Tom Kelly, a miner in treeless Rhyolite, Nevada, had this idea back in 1906. More than a century later, Rhyolite’s a ghost town—and Tom’s weird amalgam of 50,000 glass bottles is one of the few buildings still standing.
23 Stunning Glass Bottle Walls Around the World
1) Art Center In Texas
An arts center in Deep Ellum, Texas. The picture was found on Vitreosity without the story of its origin.
2) Shining Glass Bottle Wall
You can see how the bottom of the bottles affect the shape the light creates in the wall.
3) Earthship House
An Earthship Home. Note tires and cans as well.
Brighton Earthship
4) Anna’s Bottle Home
Anna’s bottle house in Tucson, Arizona. Trip Advisor includes some descriptions by people who have stayed at this B&B.
5) Glass Bottle Wall in New Mexico
You can see how the designer made sections without bottles, allowing unfiltered light to pass through.
6) Taos EarthShip House
In Taos, another Earthship. Bright light, but private. From New Mexico, you can rent one of these homes. More information is on their site.
7) Kawakawa Bathroom
Kawakawa, New Zealand men’s public toilet close up. Designed by Austrian artist and architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Originally found at krepcio.com/vitreosity/archives/001187.html
Kawakawa, New Zealand men’s public toilet from the outside.
8) Assorted Glass Bottle Wall
Again in New Zealand: Carlucci Land, Happy Valley. Photo taken by Jim Henderson, Flickr.
9) Glass Bottle Chapel
The Bottle Chapel at Airlie Gardens, North Carolina, a tribute to Minnie Evans.
Close up at Airlie Gardens. Their website says that 4,000 bottles were used to create this masterpiece.
The sides of the chapel. Airlie Gardens Foundation has more information and videos on their site.
10) Market Hall
Bottle Wall, Market Hall Altenrhein Switzerland. Designed by Austrian artist and Friedensreich Hundertwasser.
Hundertwasser bottle wall picture by eloisavh on Flickr.
11) Artist’s Glass Bottle Studio
Here’s an eclectic room. An artist’s studio in New Zealand.
Same New Zealand art studio. Looks more secure when you plaster in the bottlenecks.
12) Bottle House On Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island Bottle House. Photo from Keith Watson on Flickr. According to Kieth, the house had originally fallen apart, leading to its reconstruction.
13) Irish Glass Bottle Wall
Glass wall Biotecture, Ireland. This photo can be seen on Voila.bz.
14) Wat Lan Kuat
Walkway at Wat Lan Kuat, Thai for “The Temple of One Million Bottles.”
Wat Lan Kuat (One Million Bottle Temple) in Khn Han, Eastern Thailand. Here’s a video on this temple in Thailand.
15) Rhyolite Glass House
Tom Kelly’s Bottle House Rhyolite, Nevada, built in 1906. This amazing home was restored later, as stated by What About The Plastic Animals?
16) Bottle Wall From Bandal, India
Light radiates from this glass bottle structure. The green and white bottles create a stunning contrast.
17) Wall Of Metal And Glass
EarthShip Photo: Earthship Kristen, Flickr. You can only imagine what the inside of this Earthship must look like!
18) Cordwood Wall
A wall made of cordwood and bottles. The glass bottles create a beautiful glow around the window. This photo can be found on Vitreosity. Originally found at krepcio.com/vitreosity/archives/cat_bottle_walls.html
19) Home From Bariloche, Patagonia
Manuel Rapoport has built a house in Bariloche, Patagonia, Argentina with 100% recycled ingredients. Tin cans for roofing and siding and merged whiskey bottles as windows. Go to www.designopatagonia.com for more information.
20) Glowing Bottle House
Duke’s bottle house in Australia. This home’s glowing red hue is spectacular, looking like a wall of glowing embers. Originally found at krepcio.com/vitreosity/archives/cat_bottle_walls.html
21) Glass Bottle Cave
Charlie Stagg’s bottle cave creation — photo by Lawrence Harris. He has done a wonderful job making the columns look like they’re climbing up the wall. Photo originally found at krepcio.com/vitreosity/archives/cat_bottle_walls.html
22) Tinker Town
Tinker town, New Mexico. The small town hosts a large number of creations by Ross Ward. Vitreosity has more information about this fantastic place on their site. Originally found at krepcio.com/vitreosity/archives/cat_bottle_walls.html
23) Doors From Beer
Beer Bottle Doors. Girl Vs. Beer features these cool doors on their site, along with other beer bottle creations that may inspire you.
Glass Bottle Home Decor
1868 Green Honey Bottles Wall Decor, handmade by Pineknobs and Crickets in Grand Haven, Michigan.
Whiskey Bottle Clock, handmade from melted glass by Boni’s Glass Art in Rehovot, Israel. Boni melts the glass in her home glass kiln and makes the clocks with her granddaughter.
Wine Bottle Chandelier, made from upcycled wine bottles by Glow 828 in Black Mountain, North Carolina.
The Heineken WOBO (world bottle), an interlocking beer bottle. Mr. Heineken was a green thinker and designed bottle bricks so his beer bottles could be re-used. But the rest of the company wouldn’t go for it.
Glass bottle chair, just don’t try to use it to open beer.
And to go in your new bottle home, a beer bottle chandelier.
Better yet, this more stylish wine bottle chandelier. Found on Hooked On Houses, you can go to their site for more information.
Wow, Liking the idea of wrapping the bottles in metal flashing! There is an image on the Recycled glass bottles post under Art that shows two bottles combined. I’ll add the picture to this post as well. Hope you get to build your wall one day!
I!t’s exciting for me to see these photos. I want to build a few walls, and it’s inspiring to see that so many people have the same shared idea, but just don’t know where to start.
I wish we could pick a DIYer to help each month, and everyone pitch in until it’s FIY-Finish It Yourself
Happy Bottling!
Thanks for creating this website. I’m a huge fan of recycling glass, tile, fabric, etc. The photos in this site are inspirational!!!
I would think if you have open bottles, you could always just recap them, a capper is cheap ~$20 and caps are really cheap like 100 for $1
Fantastic post, I am going to share. Some very lovely ideas.
I was checking out 8 ghost towns in the US. Tge last one was the most fascinating. Its in Rhyolite, NV. I Googled for more photos which led me to your site. VERY, very cool. 🙂 Not only did I have fun seeing allk the ghost towns but digging deeper led me to some amazing uses of recycled bottles. So nicethat the creative, artsy, architectural part works so beautifully with GREEN!! 🙂
Love this site…the pics are outstanding!!!
This art puts you in another world
I really want to build a recycled wine bottle wall/buffet in my back yard as a first bottle project but I do not know what to use as ‘mortar’ between the bottles. I am having a hard time finding how to’s on the subject.
I want to build a green house with glass bottles. I think it would be so cool!
Everything is amazing, love it!!!!!
I am going to build a Wall around a Caravan we have on the Property, can’t wait and I will keep you informed how I am going.
A Friend of mine did ask if we also could use Silicon?
Thanks 🙂
You can se silicone cement (silicon is a different substance), but enough of it to build a wall will be expensive.
nya, i guess it is okay.. my favoritw is Taos
Thank you for putting this together. It is very inspiring.
saya sangat menyukainya dan itu benar benar menginspirasi saya dimana dengan anggaran yang minim bisa terwujud rumah yang istimewa, dan ini merupakan perbuatan yang mulia karena sangat berdampak terhadap kelestarian lingkungan kita, sangat keren coy, thank’s
Hey, what a great site and collection of pictures. I have a blog about sustainable living and was wondering if you’d mind if I used some of your images for an entry on this topic. We’re planning on replacing our bathroom window with wine bottles!
!!!impresionante!!!imaginación, creatividad, belleza..me encanta su trabajo.me gustaria ponerlo en practica,pero me falta la tecnica y recopilar muchas botellas. un saludo.
muito show… tudo muito lindo… difícil só achar quem faz… isso é um lindo trabalho artístico…
very touching, creative and light full …
Thank you for all the images.
Svargo F. Schuller
Thank you for sharing this beautiful page
this is so amazing ……in my ‘happy spot, JUST looking at these’ thanks! STL MO
I hope one day I day I can make it out to see your place ,I’am trying to make my own glass bottle wall /shower and trying to find a book ,or website ..
love your work ,,jp Austin Texas
How do you make these walls? Tom Kelly?
Fabulous and fun!
I though i was the onely one to have such idéals and i am glad and pleased to see that’s am not the onely one. Everything is realisable. Thank you for collection all those beautyfull pictures!
Have all fun by constructing all your bottle walls or buildings. Like Cindy Haviland i think already a long time to build a Green house with glass bottle. I was onely searching what to use as mortar, and i found an interesting article on Wikipédia: ‘Bottle wall’ and much other informations are on the net too.
Great pics, and so very inspirational. I can’t wait to start a project
Love ideas that take so called trash and turn it into artistic and functional things/buildings or just plain beauty.
Can you recomend a site to look at the building process. I would like suggestions on how to set foundations and also how to build the glass bottle wall without a frame? Is this possible on an entire building or do you think it needs a frame. I am just about to start my first attempt. Completely love it. 🙂
What wonderful ways to take the ordinary and make it EXTRAordinary! This takes recycling to a whole new level, and shows that even a small project can bring light, beauty, and color while reducing our carbon footprint.
What is the best mortar for bottle walls? I am building some bottle wall structures in Laos so the climate is semi tropical. Thanks for your help Troy
Hi! I want to add glass bottles to an existing wall for light. I want *ventilation* too. Has anyone used them that way? Open at the bottom, with plugs? If so, how did you handle closure? in fact, how do you handle closure when you use them the regular way? Any ideas about bottles and ventilation would be appreciated.
I have 2000 empty green Champagne bottles free to anyone who is involved in a project like this and is able to collect from Sussex UK.
Ben
Contact on mrbenmurray@hotmail.com for free bottles.
I love these ideas & have also been playing around with bottles, broken glass & other materials in my home.
looking for what works best for bottles – I’ve used water putty which works great but is really expensive – does anyone know what kind of mortar to use to make the bottles stay in an upright position without the mortar slouching, bulging, and falling out before its set? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you. Char
Can these work in areas that have snow? I live in western Michigan. Looking for the appropriate type of walls made with bottles than can withstand these temperatures.
we live in northern indiana and i wondered that same thing. The plan is to build a garden bench first to test this out in our climate.
This by far has been the most creative things people have done. I do believe that some time soon we will be looking for ways to build houses more eco friendly and this will be the way I choose.
AS A FELLOW ARTIST
LOVE THE USE OF THE RECYCLABLE
HAVE TRIED TO INTRODUCE IT WHERE I AM FROM -RESISTANCE ASTONISHING
I AM IN NY -YOU BELIEVE THAT
I’m gathering ideas to incorporate into a Cob Home and this seems to be a good way to let light in in a decorative fashion. Keep up the good work! Pappy
Super
I have been working with bottles and cement. How can I get the bottles to hold together just using recycled material….. I love your page. Thanks for sharing.
WELL GOOD COLLECTION …
While I love the idea of reusing, wouldn’t it be better to recycle these bottles? Glasse bottles are one of the ressources that can be constantly recycled no?
So, if we use these bottles to makes these beautiful walls… wouldn’t they need to produce new bottles, using more none-renewable ressource and causing more pollution than if we had recycled these bottles instead?