Mission Mushroom accomplished! Using ecobricks and colored-water-filled gin bottles we have built a giant ‘EcoMushroom’ for St. Mary’s High school in Sagada. The whole school and much of the staff participated over two weeks as put it together. The goal: To build a bench, a shade, a rain-capturing tank and cellphone charging station using locally available bottles.
-
Charging my tablet from the mushrooms USB solar plug
-
The faucet where the water can be accessed
-
The students celebrating the completion at night
-
The glowing mushroom
-
The glowing mushroom
-
The solar panel - 5V
-
The USB plug...
-
Plugged in!
-
-
Painting the roof
-
Laying old clothes soaked in concrete to make the roof
-
Laying the color filled bottles to make the water tank
-
Laying the color filled bottles to make the water tank
As you see it here, the mushroom’s stem is actually an illuminated water tank. When it rains the roof flows the water into the tank. A pipe brings the water out to a nearby fountain. Meanwhile, when it is sunny, a solar panel on the roof connects to a USB charging circuit so that you can plug in direct to the mushroom to charge your phone or camera or whatever. During the day, the mushroom provides a handy shade for studying students. During the night, the mushroom can be switched on to light-up iridescent purple and blue to add a little style to the campus and of course to provide a a nice place for students to hang– the romantic ambiance is purely incidental!
As those of you who worked on it with me discovered, the “design process” was synchronistic and fluid. In other words, we kinda made the mushroom up as we progressed! What was going to be a simple circular bench, became quite alot more. The mushroom thus has lots of room for dramatic improvement. I am excited to put the next one up, wherever that may be. The design, with its multipurpose deep functionality has immense relevance for public schools that lack water, sitting areas, shade and most of all… some fun and functional art to inspire.
The bottom is made from plastic-stuffed ecobricks and the top from water+foodcoloring filled gin bottles. The tank is cemented with the outside finished with local clay/cob.
