In the 1960s, while visiting the island of Curaçao, then Heineken CEO “Freddy” Heineken had a burst of inspiration when he noticed the abundance of trash and the lack of housing.
His plan was to manufacture beer bottles that could double up as a brick when it was finished.
Architect John Habraken helped in realizing Heineken’s dream by designing the beer bottle brick.
Surprisingly, beer bottles passed building regulations, managing to bear 50 kilograms per square centimetre. However, this only applied if the bottle was standing upright, which posed a problem—bottles were difficult to stack vertically.
Furthermore, the bottles would crush easily if they were laid horizontally.
Habraken’s initial idea was to “develop vertically stackable Chianti-like bottles with long necks and recessed sides that nested into and supported each other”.
However, this design was rejected by Heineken’s marketing for being too “effeminate”.
Habraken then decided to go horizontal. He designed a thick rectangular bottle with a dimpled bottom that could fit the bottle’s stubby neck, creating an interclocking system.
The surface of the sides was covered in small bumps, making it easeier to hold and to apply mortar onto. However, thicker glass had to be used to strengthen the horizontal structure.
Heineken produced a trial run of 100,000 bottles (enough to build around 100 homes), although the design ultimately did not succeed, most possibly because “customers of the 1960s preferred the feel and look of the rounded bottle”
[Fast Co.Design]