Beer bottles are building material for one young architect

In today's trending, a young architect builds an office with 8,500 beer bottles, Nanjing uses an ancient city wall to help with drainage, a man climbs Wangjing Soho's tallest building to take a selfie and two lovebirds stop a train.

Li Rongjun enjoys the sunshine in his office, which was built with 8,500 beer bottles. [Photo/IC]

College graduate builds office with 8,500 beer bottles

As swarms of recent university graduates fight to land a decent job, a young man who majored in architecture tried something different: He started his own business by building an office from thousands of used beer bottles.

"I want to build an office which combines artistic beauty with pragmatism," said Li Rongjun, who graduated from the Inner Mongolia University of Science & Technology this year.

The top level of the two-story structure is made of 8,500 beer bottles in 40 layers, while the bottom floor is built with mud and brick. Each of the the 29 square meter structure's stories is 2.8 meters high.

"It is prettier at night. When the lights go on, the room looks radiant and the green light reaches as far as the road," neighbor Li Yan said.

Li Rongjun plans to establish a design studio to help people build creative and comfortable houses. However he only wants to sell his ideas and does not want to draw the design himself. He wants to attract designers and investors with this creative structure built with beer bottles.

It took Li and his father more than four months to build the office, and cost over 70,000 yuan ($11,275), according to his father.

The beer-bottle structure could be considered an artistic creation but not a product to be marketed, according to an expert. "The top level has no load bearing wall and the weight the beer bottles could carry is limited, thus the structure may collapse," said Tang Zhe, an architect with a local design company in Chongqing.

Li Rongjun's office is made of beer bottles. [Photo/IC]

The two-story structure is made of beer bottles at the top level and mud and brick on the lower level. [Photo/IC]

Next up: Nanjing's ancient city wall helps drain the rain.