Bottlestop is an innovative bus shelter, built using recycled glass bottles. Located in Lexington, Kentucky, the structure is also self-sustaining, illuminated with LED lights and powered by solar panels.

The design won a competition for an artistic shelter, sponsored by non-profit organisation, Art in Motion, who aim to fuse art with public transport. Developed by architectural student Aaron Scales, inspiration struck when he saw discarded glass bottles littering the roadway at the site where the shelter now stands.

The distinctive bottles used to make the shelter have been recovered from the factory waste of local soft drinks manufacturer Ale-8-One and are sealed within panes of tempered security glass.

Aaron wanted to take something that was considered worthless and transform it into something that generated pride in the locality: “By taking a commonly discarded item with strong local identity, the project is sustainable, not merely in the fact that it recycles and harnesses its own power, but that everyone will look at that bottle in their hand after a cold drink and think: am I really done with this yet?” explains Aaron. “Maybe they’ll hold it up to the sun to look at the way the light shines through it and, for maybe just a moment, they’ll see something beautiful that they never really noticed before.”

The shelter is in front of the regional recycling centre and is also near a clinic, whose main clientele are bus users, so it serves a specific need. In addition, being close to the city’s basketball stadium, it fosters local identity and creatively draws attention to sustainability issues.

Businesses in the area have supported the project. “A terrific group of lighting specialists and construction experts donated their valuable time and service to the initiative with little compensation,” explains Aaron.

The bus stop’s design offers a model to improve transport facilities and also generate revenue, which Aaron refers to as long-term architectural investment. The idea would be for advertisers to pay an upfront fee for the creation of an ‘art-shelter’, instead of paying regularly for bus stop billboards. “What if the entire shelter became an advertisement, which was so disarmingly creative and uniquely engaging that it was seen as art?” asks Aaron. “Bottlestop is intended to be a display framework for any kind of reused material, that artistically represents the product of a sponsoring business.”

Contact: www​.aaronscales​.com
www​.art​-in​-motion​.us

Bottlestop bus shelter
Photo: ’ Aaron Scales