Las Vegas may be a desert locale lacking water and yet filled with thirsty pools, golf courses, and fantastical fountains, but at least one place in Sin City has some concerns about the environment.
The Morrow Royal Pavilion in Las Vegas was constructed of over 500,000 beer bottles which were crushed and mixed with fly ash, melted down, and molded into bricks called GreenStone. It was the idea of entrepreneur Scott McCombs, owner of design firm Realm of Design, to build the 30,000 square foot building inspired by the famous Swarkestone Hall Pavilion in England, where the band Rolling Stone took photos for their first compilation album, Hot Rocks. The facility is the world’s largest building made from recycled bottles.
Realm of Design’s GreenStone costs about the same as its stone building material, ranging from $18 to $24 per square foot. “GreenStone can replace standard concrete in buildings, as well as fireplaces, mantles, gazebos, fountains, balustrades, columns and beamsreplace concrete and stonework in buildings, fountains, columns and beams,” said McCombs to the Las Vegas Review Journal.
All of the 500,000 glass beer bottles were collected from hotels situated along the famed Vegas Strip, recycling enough glass to fill eight football fields up to the goal posts. The project saved an estimated 400,000 cubic yards of material from going to the landfill.
The $1.4 million building is used as a manufacturing facility for Realm of Design and is located next door to their existing showroom, and the company is currently running a Facebook campaign to get the Rolling Stones to come for a visit.
Having lived in Taos, New Mexico I have experienced and been inside small residential houses called Earthships which are made out of beer bottles and other recyclables. The Morrow Royal Pavilion certainly takes that concept to a whole other level.
Source: psfk via EcoFriend
Image Credit: Realm of Design