Garbage architecture: beautiful salvage

Jan Korbes's Garbage Architecture is a trove of beautiful things made out of salvage and trash, from a chair made out of radials to a staircase made out of timbers from a castle. Link (via Cribcandy)

[#1 posted by Antinous , April 15, 2008 10:20 PM]

You, sir, have a staircase fetish.

[#2 posted by Takuan , April 15, 2008 10:30 PM]

There's a Cory who's sure all that glitters is gold
And he's buying a stairway to heaven
And when he gets there he knows if the stores are closed
With a word he can get what he came for

Woe oh oh oh oh oh
And he's buying a stairway to heaven

There's a sign on the wall but he wants to be sure
And you know sometimes words have two meanings
In a tree by the brook there's a songbird who sings
Sometimes all of our thoughts are misgiven

[#3 posted by jimh , April 15, 2008 11:09 PM]

One of my favorites on the link is a skylight/bay window mod made entirely of salvaged glass storm doors. The roof was removed and it looks like a telephone booth that starts on the side of the building and wraps over the top so it is lying on its side... In Amsterdam maybe- but not here in SF without many hearings, inspections, and much public debate I'm sure.

[#4 posted by falsemoniker , April 16, 2008 1:14 AM]

This isn't a shameless plug, honest!

I've been working for a little non-profit salvage yard here in good old San Francisco for a little over two years now. We take donations from all over the city, contractors, individuals, The City, Parks and Rec, everywhere. On any given day I could make a good deal of this stuff. And I do! Some of it requires a lot of know how and power tools, but a lot of it can be made in a weekend. I really think a lot of you mutants here in the city bay the bay would enjoy it. It's down in Bayview. Building REsources.

[#5 posted by raisedbywolves , April 16, 2008 2:06 AM]

What a great site! I hope lots of people are inspired to create their own garbage architecture.

[#6 posted by Cory Doctorow , April 16, 2008 2:11 AM]

Takuan, I bow before you.

[#7 posted by Moon , April 16, 2008 7:13 AM]

That staircase is not completed, right? Because that looks like really nice wood, and if it was sanded and stained, it could be gorgeous.

Or they could paint, I suppose. I'm not a paint man myself, but as it sits right there, it's pretty ugly.

It would have been easier if the sanded and stained BEFORE they put it up.

[#8 posted by agoodsandwich , April 16, 2008 7:18 AM]

I must disagree with you moon, that is a piece of beauty as it is in that photo. It's such a remarkable contrast to the clean white behind it.

[#9 posted by Takuan , April 16, 2008 7:31 AM]

"timbers from a castle". Every dent, every fastener hole,every blemish and flaw tells the history of where this staircase came from. At most a clear urethane on the tread surfaces for wear and to protect bare feet.

[#10 posted by ibdense , April 16, 2008 8:49 AM]

About 15 years ago I found out that most wooden shipping pallets in the U.S. were made from eastern hardwoods because of strength.

I took several samples and ran them through a wood planer and put a finish coat on them. The wood was as beautiful as any high-end furniture.

It's a shame to use this beautiful old timber to ship stuff on but it can be reclaimed. The trick is learning to ID the wood. Most new palettes are made from softer woods now.

[#11 posted by kdj432 , April 16, 2008 9:45 AM]

Does anyone know if there's anybody doing this sort of thing in the MD/DC/VA area?

[#12 posted by lava , April 16, 2008 9:49 AM]

This was first posted at Materialicious. Second time this week folks. Its not BoingBoing's fault -these other blogs are not linking back to the originator. Bad form.

http://www.materialicio.us/2008/04/10/garbage-architecture/

BoingBoing should update this post. Crib candy got it from curbly, who got it from Materialicious. Check the dates if you care. Link backs are the commerce of blogging - they should be dealt out fairly.

[#13 posted by Takuan , April 16, 2008 10:05 AM]

history is so relative. Spent a pleasant month once running century old timbers through a chop saw for firewood for a bathhouse.

[#14 posted by Antinous , April 16, 2008 1:28 PM]

You worked in a bathhouse? Did Bette Midler ever perform there?

[#15 posted by Cory Doctorow , April 16, 2008 1:56 PM]

Lava, this was *originally* posted on complett.nl, where Materialicious found it. But they're not Magellan -- they didn't "discover" something previously unknown. Many people have gone to the site in times gone by. Many people have appreciated this work in person, too. Materialicious and lots of other people posted about it, and other people saw it, and other people saw what they posted, and so on.

"Via" means, "this is where I saw it." It does not mean, "This is the first person in the world who ever wrote a blog post about it."

Life is too short -- and provenance is too difficult to determine -- to track down "via"s unto the first hit a website ever received.

[#16 posted by max , April 16, 2008 2:11 PM]

Do those stairs meet american building codes? cause they have no solid stringers and the treads don't seem like they're secured properly. maybe i'm missing something, but that looks like a scary set of stairs to walk up.

[#17 posted by Lexica , April 16, 2008 2:35 PM]

Max @ 15 -

From this angle, is it possible to tell that it doesn't have solid stringers? I'd think they would be hidden in this photo.

However, it's clearly missing a railing, which (regardless of local building codes) is just dangerous.

After spending two weeks on crutches following a foot injury, I now find that "looks hella cool" doesn't come close to outweighing "takes safety concerns into account" in my book.

[#18 posted by lava , April 16, 2008 4:29 PM]

Understood Cory, but Materialicious thanked their source. The other blogs working back from boingboing failed to link their source. I'm just frustrated that others don't follow through on their sources. I'm not saying Materialicious "discovered" it, clearly they did not - its not about discovering per-say. This genre of blog is all about bringing attention to unique and thought stimulating ideas. The discretion as to what to post, and what might be interesting is where a blog creates value - I think everybody here at boingboing knows that. I find too much of this goes on among design oriented blogs and its just bad form. Enough OT though, I appreciate your reply.

[#19 posted by materialicious , April 16, 2008 5:04 PM]

Okay, time out: LAVA is a friend of mine, and is just looking out for me. The concern stems from the fact that although my blog is popular and people link to me rather often, there are others who very obviously have no shame whatsoever and just steal my content. It's too easy - just copy all, change some of the wording, reorganize the pictures, and voila! original content.... The amount of work that goes into my research is huge, and to have others steal it is depressing. But Cory is correct in that that we can't link all the way back to the 'discoverer'. What, we have to do this: Via____, via____, via_____, via____?
I don't think so.
At any rate, BB has linked to me a couple of times, and I will always be grateful for that. Even the first time, when the traffic knocked my blog out for 12 hours!!!! Thanks, y'all.

[#20 posted by Takuan , April 16, 2008 5:35 PM]

did Bette ever play Edogawa-ku?