The original Casa de Botellas. Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina
Situated within lush gardens at the edge of the jungle in Argentina’s Misiones Province, not far from the magnificent Iguazu Falls, are several structures that appear to have been constructed from crystal glass. The simple yet artistically creative homes reflect the the strong and prolific sunlight of the region and are in harmony with their peaceful and natural environment. Even in the middle of a southern hemisphere winter, the gardens surrounding these remarkable buildings are alive with the colors of tropical flowers, the songs of jungle birds, and the fluttering of hummingbird and butterfly wings. These “crystal” buildings, including a garden palapa, that grace this lush refuge are not glass but are are actually constructed with hundreds of discarded plastic bottles.
Alfredo in front of his latest project: a spacious environmentally-friendly home that will be constructed out of 24,000 recycled glass bottles.
La Casa de Botellas (The Ecological Bottle House) and the surrounding structures are the creations of Alfredo Santa Cruz - creations born out of necessity and ingenuity. As with so many other Argentineans, in the early 2000’s, Alfredo and his family suffered financially as a result of the severe economic crisis in Argentina. Lacking the resources to provide for his family, Alfredo began to collect trash and turn it into usable items. He found that by putting discarded plastic bottles together in a certain way he could create a building material that was strong, inexpensive, and environmentally-friendly. He explains, “We are convinced we can find social solutions for the poor that are also ecological. Like removing trash from the streets and thus preventing the planet from being transformed in a huge trash yard. At the same time, this is a technique that can be easily learned by anyone.”
Alfredo explains his inexpensive environmentally-friendly self-invented casting technology.
A view of the gardens and the bottle homes on the Santa Cruz family property.
Construction on Alfredo's largest bottle home continues as he has refined his building technique to make his homes more resistant to the elements.
Alfredo, greeting guests in his bottle house, shares and describes some of the products that he has designed and created using recycled plastic and aluminum, including reusable shopping bags and containers woven with plastic packing strips.
A generous, kind, and patient man, during The Caretaker Gazette's recent visit Alfredo enthusiastically and carefully explained, in detail, how he designs and creates the glass bottle buildings using what he describes as “a self-invented casting technology that keeps the bottles fused together without obstructing the visual symmetry.” The bottle homes, including their exterior and interior walls and supporting columns, as well as their furnishings (couches, beds, coffee tables, end tables, and shelves), are all constructed from discarded plastic drink bottles. The structures have strong roofs that are created using the silver reflective inside of recycled Tetra Paks. Recycled and repurposed CD jewel cases are used for the doors and windows. Alfredo used the following items to construct the original bottle house: 1,200 plastic bottles were used to build the walls, 1,300 milk and wine Tetra Pak containers were used to construct the roof, 140 compact disc crystal cases were used for the doors and windows. Within the house, 120 plastic bottles were used to create the couches and 200 plastic bottles for the bed. In addition to the buildings and furniture, the family has also designed and created a variety of useful and decorative objects using discarded glass, plastic, aluminum containers, PET plastic bottles, and Tetra Pak containers
Palm tree sun shade constructed from green plastic bottles.
Alfredo is a self-taught inventor, artist, designer, architect, and a dedicated environmental steward of the earth with a passion for frugal living and protecting the environment. His creation, using discarded plastic bottles to build homes and other structures, should be of special interest to the many subscribers to The Caretaker Gazette who have asked us for creative ways to live frugally on vacant land. La Casa de Botellas attracts visitors from around the world. According to Alfredo, “Visitors who, like us, believe that it is possible to live in harmony with nature, have spread the word about our project and convinced fellow travelers to come and discover, in this one-of-a-kind place, how we can all live in harmony with nature in our big house, Planet Earth.” Alfredo and his family provide free courses in home building to interested people throughout Latin America. If you’re interested in making a donation, you may do so via their La Casa de Botellas PayPal Account.
Gary Dunn, Publisher of The Caretaker Gazette with Alfredo Santa Cruz, Community Artist, Inventor, Architect, and Environmentalist. Puerto Iguazú, Misiones, Argentina
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