Architecture Graduate Builds His Office Out of 8,500 Beer Bottles

By Sumitra on July 3rd, 2015 Category: Architecture

Li Rongjun, an aspiring architect from China, has built himself an spectacular office. In a bid to showcase his mad construction skills, he’s used 8,500 beer bottles to make the entire upper floor of a two-storey building!

The 300-square foot office, located in Chongqing city, consists of 40 layers of bottles that Li and his father laid out over four months. Pictures show how he cleverly stacked the bottles in rows with the bottoms facing inward sand filling the gaps with stones and cement.

“I wanted to build an artistic and usable office,” said Li, who graduated from the Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology this year. “This building is also my calling card for my future business plans. It will allow investors to see my products in real life and see my talent.”

Although Li has interned at various construction companies, he said that he was drawn towards doing something more creative. “There is no creativity and it’s a waste of life to be there,” Li said. “No matter if I succeed or not, I want to give my dream a try.” Li plans to sell clients real-life ideas like this beer-bottle office, instead of drawing up plans and designs on pieces of paper. “It will allow investors to see my products in real life and see my talent,” the young architecture graduate added.

Li’s father is quite supportive of his outside-the-box venture. “He has been very independent from a young age. We could see that he has a strong determination to create his own business,” he said. “When he proposed to build the glass house, although we are a family of limited means I immediately told him he would have my complete support.” The project cost Li and his family 70,000 yuan (about $11,000) to complete.

Meanwhile, Li’s neighbors are totally in awe of his stunning creation. “At night it looks even better. The lights are on and the building glows. Some of the green light shines over to the nearby road,” Li Yan, a neighbor, said.

However, a local architect did question the strength of the structure. “The second floor has no load bearing walls and the bottles have a limit to the load they can bear,” said Tang Ji, who runs a design company in Chongqing. “If these factors are not taken into account there is a risk of collapse.”