Can houses be built from plastic bottles?! The Trendy Pavilion in Yuanshan Park during the Taipei Flower Expo boldly used over 1.52 million recycled waste materials—“PET bottles”—to create more than 300,000 hexagonal air-pocket plastic bricks. These are not only lightweight and sturdy but also passed tests for earthquakes and typhoons. It is the world’s first green building made entirely of PET plastic bottles.
If you’re interested in this massive marvel that resembles a Transformer, the pavilion offers guided tours with approximately 30 people per group and one departure every 5 minutes. Visitors can enter with a guide, go up from the “Waterfront Corridor,” a vertical garden wall along the water’s edge, to the second-floor “Observation Deck,” which offers a bird’s-eye view of the entire exhibition hall. In addition, the captivating “Dream Capsule” combines recycled PET bottles with multimedia and art installations. Using mirror reflections, as well as the framing and borrowed scenery techniques found in Chinese gardens, it creates a surreal and ever-shifting visual space with PET installations.
The Trendy Pavilion also serves as a venue for fashion shows and cultural performances. In the loft-style “Meditation Room” on the second floor, the “Flower Time Creative Fashion Exhibition” by renowned domestic designer Kang Yanling is displayed. Each hand-tailored outfit cleverly uses various eco-friendly materials, reflecting thoughts on both the environment and femininity. The handmade garments, each averaging a towering height of 250 cm, feature extravagant designs and have been dubbed a “Pandora-level” fantastical visual feast.
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