BOTTLE SAIL
Location: Do Son District, Hai Phong, Viet Nam
Design Team : Hoang Thuc Hao , Nguyen Duy Thanh, Vu Xuan Son
Collaborator: Tran Hong Nam, Local farmers, Students
Area: 16 sqm
The Bottle Sail Nursery House was one of the projects to support disadvantaged communities. It is the plant nursery house for HIV-infected community in Do Son, Hai Phong. Our objectives was to develop a “Simple – Effective – Sustainable” project which would support local agriculture development, and encourage HIV-infected people to reintegrate with society. It is a nursery house to nurse plants, a rest-area for farmers during field work, and a socializing space for farmers, pupils, and students.
In order to achieve the project objectives, our strategies was to build a nursery house with the lowest price possible in the shortest time, and in the most flexible construction method so that in future, it can be easily self-constructed in other communities. Therefore, we use recycled materials and local labor to build the house. Broken concrete pipes was used to build the foundation and support the structural frame made from bamboo. Plastic bottle wall isolates the heat from the sun, prevents direct sunlight from heating the plants in the summer, at the same time keeps them warm in the winter. The house costs only $400, and is easy to be built by local people.
The design concept is to create a nursery house that looks like a full sail in the sea of Hai Phong. The different lighting effects of the plastic bottle during the day make it an interesting visual attraction in a large field.
The project has shown the efforts to reintegrate HIV- infected people to the society by supporting their participation during project construction. Do Son in one of the zones with the highest number of HIV-infected population. To build the house, about 3000 used plastic bottles were collected by them and local students in industrial zones and the beaches. By integrating HIV-infected people during constructing and operating Bottle Sail Nursery House, we want to make them believe that, like those used plastic bottles, they can be useful, support their hometown, as well as support each other, and regain the believes in life themselves.
