Upcycle Project: “Multi-Purpose Rack”
For my upcycled artifact, I reused leftover beer bottles to create a functional “Multi-purpose rack” that can be used as a shoe rack, bottle organizer, or general storage stand. The design is inspired by “Brutalist aesthetics”, especially the ideas of material honesty, structural expression, and function-driven form. Instead of hiding the bottles, I used them as visible load-bearing elements, allowing the raw glass material to become both the structure and the visual identity of the design.
To check the feasibility, I performed a static structural analysis in ANSYS using soda-lime glass properties and considered the maximum loading condition by using filled wine bottles. Based on the calculation, one filled 750 mL wine bottle applies approximately 12.26 N of downward force, so I used 15 N per bottle for safety. For 20 bottles, the total applied load was 300 N. The analysis showed a factor of safety of around 15, which means the design can safely handle much more than the expected load.
During prototyping, I realized that fixing the supporting bottles in place was difficult, so I modified the design, remodeled the structure, and repeated the analysis. The updated design achieved the same safety result and successfully held the load during testing.
Overall, this project was really fun and meaningful because it helped me connect a historic aesthetic style with modern sustainable design, while also improving my skills in modeling, structural analysis, prototyping, and turning a digital concept into a practical physical product.
To know more, you can go through my Unrulr journey➡️ Upcycle Project
