Pure Pod

How might we transform often-littered Solo cups of university into something beautiful?

Outcome

Additional

Details

A habitable, recycled, architectural pavilion.

Completed with Holden Miles and Emmett Debree (2 months)

For a first year architecture project at the University of Virginia, we were tasked to create a pod in which we could occupy for 24 hours. We were not allowed to spend money constructing the pod, and everything had to be salvaged from recycling. Our team of three collected over 4000 solo cups from surrounding fraternities and explored the ways in which they could become structure. We used reused plastic garbage bags as a fastener for the cups. In addition to making a habitable structure out of solo cups and garbage bags, our pod functioned as a water filtration system for stormwater runoff for the drain below it. After the exhibition, the entire pavilion was recycled.

Solo cups are recyclable in Charlottesville yet they're often thrown in the trash or cast to the ground.

Structural tests from the Solo cups that we gathered around UVA grounds.

Initial tests of aggregation.

Our site was a location over a drain with large sediment buildup due to heavy stormwater pooling nearby.

From this, we decided to make our Pod a biofilter for this runoff before it hit the Chesapeake Bay.

The flexible structure can adapt to how many people are using the space. Turn a wall towards you to have privacy, or open the space to all.