In Fragner's gallery, the Architect of Waste is exhibiting

photo: Kirsten Jacobsen

Prague - A pioneer of homes made from what most people consider trash is exhibiting at the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery in Prague. Michael Reynolds is trying to convince the world that it is possible to live in a house made from beer cans, PET bottles, old tires, or plastic bags. Reynolds returned to Prague after a year; last year the city hall expressed interest in having one of his buildings constructed here - in the botanical or zoological garden in Troja.
"The waste architect," as Reynolds is nicknamed, showcases his groundbreaking projects in the gallery, through which visitors will learn how energy-independent homes are created with minimal impact on the environment. The presentation will subsequently travel throughout Bohemia and Moravia, and to other European countries.
Reynolds is an advocate of sustainable living. The operating costs of his buildings and their energy requirements are almost zero and provide complete equipment necessary for living. They are also a viable option in case non-renewable energy sources are depleted on Earth, say the exhibition organizers.
Reynolds has been building his inexpensive homes for almost 40 years in the high-altitude desert of New Mexico, but in recent years also in other corners of the Earth. These structures have their own sources of energy (wind or solar), water, filtering and later recycling rainwater, heat, and their own sewage systems. In addition to bottles, cans, or tires, he uses plastic bags or yogurt cups, juice cartons, car metal, or cardboard as building materials.
His buildings also help in places where people have lost their roofs over their heads - he taught residents to build in hurricane-struck Honduras (1999) or Mexico (2005), in the Andaman Islands, where locals had to cope with the aftermath of the tsunami in 2005, or in Haiti, which was devastated by an earthquake two years ago.
The Prague exhibition also includes screenings of short educational films and videos from humanitarian projects of Reynolds's studio. Following the exhibition, a workshop will be held from May 7 to 25 near Prague, during which the first model "earth ship," as his buildings are called, will be created in Central and Eastern Europe.