Upcycle House: Made of recycled, reclaimed and upcycled materials

Creating a sustainable and affordable house made completely from various recycled, reclaimed, and upcycled materials is likely to be a difficult task. Add to that the goal of ensuring the house has a minimal carbon footprint then the challenge is truly on.

The companies that accepted the challenge were Denmark-based Lendager Architect and Realdania Byg foundation.

The concept of the Upcycle House

The Upcycle House starts out with shipping containers, which have been given a new life as the base of the Upcycle House. When choosing the materials for the Upcycle House they based their selection of materials on four factors.

They wanted materials with a lower rate of CO² compared to the standard material. Materials that maximised operation and minimised maintenance for the homeowner. They also looked at the accessibility of sufficient amounts of the materials, and finally overall cost to help them stick to their budget of 1 million DKK (approximately AU$204,000).

The single story house comes equipped with four bedrooms, one bathroom and an open plan living and kitchen area.

Materials used throughout the house include recycled wood framing, with the walls insulated with old newspapers and drywall cladding made from paper waste. The house also has Tecnopor rigid insulation, which is made from used glass bottles. The flooring throughout the house is made from a composite of wood granulate and recycled plastic called UPM profi deck. Other upcycled material in the house includes old bricks, windows, battens and laths. The entire project is is topped off with a roof made from trapezoidal profile sheets of recycled aluminum beer bottles.