The idea is not to junk it!

Bengaluru-based Architecture Intervention offers to visit your backyard, survey the junk you have been accumulating there and suggest design solutions using the material

The next time you wonder what to do with an empty bubble top in the office or at home, you could think of making it a lamp-cum-floating garden, perfect for a balcony or terrace. How? By cutting off the top, filling it with water, setting some water lilies afloat in it and putting it in a pot, below which you affix a bulb so that even the roots are aglow in an Avatar-like manner when you switch your new lamp on. If that sounds cool (and not too hard to do), here's another idea. If you have tyres that can no longer be used in your car, try making them into a chair for your terrace instead, by placing one on top of another in a metal frame welded together. Splash some paint on, and voila, your upcycled sofa is ready for you to park your posterior on.

These and several other ideas are part of the "Waste to Wow" programme of architecture firm Architecture Intervention, which focuses on sustainable architectural solutions. The firm offers to come to your backyard, survey the trash you have been accumulating and offer design solutions using the material. "I look at junk as a resource, not as waste," says Ar. Gouthama, architect and founder of the firm, which holds workshops on the terrace of the firm's office in JP Nagar to spread awareness about reusing "junk". Gouthama ascribes his philosophy of finding eco-friendly solutions partly to his childhood spent in his grandparent's village, where "everything had a sustainable touch" - from mud walls to toys made using the lids of Horlicks bottles.

At next weekend's edition of Green Bazaar, with the theme 'Design Matters', Gouthama will be conducting a session on lighting solutions, as part of which he will be demonstrating how you can make a one-of-a-kind floor lamp using recycled materials. "I will go there, see what material they have and come up with something," he says, in the well-lit, aesthetically appealing office of the firm in south Bangalore. In case you are not in Bengaluru but would still like some tips on how to make something with the junk you have at home, you can sound out the firm on their Facebook page for ideas. And if you are in the city, Gouthama says they are willing to provide their services on how to go from "Waste to Wow" for free on weekends.

The idea came to him in 2010-11 and he started by researching the potential of what most of us consider junk and how it could be incorporated into design. Apart from product design ideas such as a couch made of discarded tyres, the firm also uses "bottle walls" whenever possible. Usually, when you build a wall out of concrete, it has a lot of what is termed self weight, which would be exerted on the foundation. By using glass bottles in sections of the walls, the weight on the foundation is  reduced and the bottles also let more light into the structure.

One of the quirkier solutions the architect came up with was for a client who wanted to stop passersby from urinating on his compound wall. In what has become common practice, he asked the firm to put ceramic tiles of various gods and goddesses on the wall. Wanting to opt for a more secular solution, Gouthama instead got "Way to toilet" with an arrow painted on the walls. To his horror, he realised people then started urinating on the neighbour's wall but then they too caught on, and put up similar signs. The chain continued, till it finally led to a public toilet!

The firm hopes to host more workshops and consultancies to spread awareness about upcycling products instead of sending them to a landfill. Eventually, Gouthama hopes, there will be a parallel industry dedicated to reusing "junk".

Contact Architecture Intervention for ideas to upcycle your junk at
www.facebook.com/pages/Architectural-intervention-page_/1518856771669109