Since the beginning of our civilization, packages have been
integral part of the human evolution. The necessity of easy keeping and
transportation, firstly of foods, has been vital for their development. The
skills and technologies are the foundation of keeping the products fresh - from
the wicker basket, through the animal tripe and pots to the modern day numerous
types and forms of packages.
Since the Ancient Rome we can find examples for REchitecture of packages, built in the
land shaft of the capital. Usually the big amphorae, in which the sailors
delivered different oils to the city, have been used more than once and in the
end they were smashed and used as a building material in the Roman concrete. Not
so easy to recycle were one concrete type of Spanish amphorae. They were
extremely hard to brake, which made the local authorities to find a special
place to dispose them. This was not a landfill, but deliberately and targeted
building of a hill in the city, which nowadays we know as Monte Testaccio.
Especially impressive is the technique of building- one layer of smashed and
one layer of solid amphorae filled with smashed parts of them. The hill is 36
meters high, which is impressive. Long time after the building of this hill, we
still are not able to find so organized and meaningful construction from unneeded
and no longer used objects. Examples of REchitecture
have always existed, however they were more likely a product of a
“do-it-yourself” principle. The first image, coming in mind is the interior of
the middle-age inn, where the tables are made from wooden casks and chairs made
from crates of fruits. Information about similar usage is available up to the
middle of the 19th century.
After the Industrial Revolution the society started denying
the idea of “do-it-yourself” and started following the culture of “disposable usage”
not only for packages but for many more everyday goods.
Some of the first defined examples for REchitecture from packages are the Nomadic Museum from the Japanese
architect Shigeru Ban and KeetWonen /students dormitories/ of TempoHousing.
Both projects have been finished in 2005 from shipping containers.
Since then the idea for building from packages has been
developing very quickly, in unison with the public opinion about ecology and
recycling. Starting with the shipping containers, REchitecture sees in the packages new, unconventional material and
most importantly a provocation, which is vital for the modern day society.
Because of the incredibly huge variety of modern packages,
the report’s main idea is to show one possible classification, dividing by
types and materials, as well as possible usage in the construction of the
building.
І.
Classification by type
1. Primary- these are the packages reaching the customer,
often covered with advertisements and made for disposable usage.
2. Secondary /group/ packages – contains a lot of products,
reusable.
3. Tertiary /transport/ packages – they are used in grouping
the secondary ones for facilitating the transportation, for them to be reusable
is a must.
ІІ.
According to the materials
1. Metal;
2.Wooden;
3.Glass;
4.Plastic;
5.Paper;
6.Styrofoam;
ІІІ. According
their place in the construction of the building.
1.Constructive
Element ;
2.In the
interior;
3.In the
exterior;
* Shown
examples in ІІІ. are result of the author’s research.
Multiple examples type “do-it-yourself” with doubtful aesthetic
qualities have created hostility towards REchitecture
of packages. In a sense this has been overcame for the massive elements, such
as shipping containers and pallets, thanks to their shape and easy usage. Glass
bottles also break through the skepticism after the rising popularity of
Buddhist temple built almost entirely from bottles. Prejudices are still an
obstacle for the other types of REchitectural
solutions for packages. Their variety and the need for provocation and powerful
influence constantly wanted from the society, will bring us to the more broaden
usage in the architecture and design.
ARCHTHEO'12 conference, Istanbul, Turkey
