Texan builds artful, green homes out of trash - story and pics

[Kadie]

Texan builds artful, green homes out of trash

by Angela Morris – 2 hrs 59 mins ago

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AFP) – Texas home builder Dan Phillips transforms trash into artful treasures, creating intricate floor mosaics with wood scraps, kitchen counters from ivory-colored bones and roofs out of license plates.

The fantastical houses which spring from his imagination are made almost entirely with materials which would otherwise have ended up in a garbage dump.

"People have been doing this for hundreds of thousands of years: using whatever is available to build shelter," Phillips said. "If you ponder what could be used, then building materials are everywhere."

Phillips founded Phoenix Commotion 12 years ago with the aim of creating a new model for sustainable, affordable housing.

more...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110113/ts_alt_afp/usarchitectureenvironmentrecycling_20110113155410


The Storybook House in Huntsville, Texas, was built by Phoenix Commotion using recycled materials. The company builds houses for as little as $10,000 for single parents, low-income families and artists. (AFP/Angela Morris)


Dan Phillips' houses are truly one-of-a-kind. The buildings, made entirely from recycled materials ranging from scrap lumber and tree branches to bones, are designed based on the material at hand. Advocates say the recycled style is a low-cost, green housing solution, as well as a striking architectural style. (AFPTV)


Dan Phillips, owner of Phoenix Commotion, used scrap wood that was headed to the landfill to construct this floor mosaic of a phoenix, the mythical bird that rises from the ashes. The mosaic is inside the Bone House in Huntsville, Texas, which also features patio furniture and a stairway made of bones, floors covered in wine corks and beer bottle caps, and a skylight that used to be a Pyrex dish.s (AFP/Angela Morris)


A staircase inside one of Phoenix Commotion's houses reveals how the home in Huntsville, Texas, got its name: the Bone House. It features details, inside and out, made out of animal bones. The company has diverted hundreds of tons of construction waste from landfills by upcycling the materials into habitable buildings. (AFP/Angela Morris)

[xchrom]

1. awesome good stuff. nt

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Does this mean Tom Delay

is going to be made into a house?

[tridim]

3. Gorgeous, but how does he pass code?

[formercia]

13. by building in an area that has little or no code enforcement.

Not something one should try in an urban setting.

[Drale]

4. Cool but

that staircase is really creapy.

[Warpy]

5. The bones as a decorative element (which is all they are)

would have done much better at the inner joint of tread and riser. I can see the way it is done here as being a tripping hazard.

At the inner joint, they could also have been used as a device to keep a runner in place, carpeting the stairs.

I do love the Storybook House.

[Poboy]

8. I agree, the bones are not functional and indeed a tripping hazard.

[frylock]

14. reminds me of TCSM

:scared:

[Kadie]

16. I agree.

I could do without the bone staircase.

[MilesColtrane]

6. Who are his clients,...

fairy-tale witches who live in the forest and eat children?

[Poboy]

7. More pics-

Gret use of bones (the staircase bones are not so appropriate as they are tripping hazards)



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Entire slideshow-
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/09/02/garden/20090903-recycled-slideshow_index.html

[Kadie]

17. Thanks!

The fireplace is beautiful!

[cutlassmama]

9. I'd love one! What an awesome idea!

[Poboy]

10. Video clip, very cool!

In this funny and insightful talk from TEDxHouston, builder Dan Phillips tours us through a dozen homes he's built in Texas using recycled and reclaimed materials in wildly creative ways. Brilliant, low-tech design details will refresh your own creative drive.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVLu99Ja2mA&feature=player_embedded#!

[Uncle Joe]

11. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Kadie.:thumbsup:

[dixiegrrrrl]

12. Intriguing.

I still say, one of these days, not too far off,landfills will be commodities in high demand.

There should be, but is not, re-cycling plants at every landfill.

[Shagbark Hickory]

15. really, really kool! very impressive.