Students and faculty from the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute recently launched an installation at the Oslo Architecture Triennale, the biggest architecture festival in the Nordic region focused on tackling architectural and urban challenges. The installation, Message in a Bottle, will remain up at the Oslo National Museum of Architecture through Sunday, November 24.

The project builds upon Second Lives | After Bottles, a collaborative research project that investigates how empty plastic water bottles can be used as a sustainable solution for shelter during disaster relief. Message in a Bottle, an assemblage of interlocking bottles provided by the project’s sponsor, Friendship Bottles LLC, allows individuals to view over 40 “micro-messages” about how plastic water bottles can be reused.

“We hope that our installation will allow viewers to consider how the unique properties of plastics can be socially and culturally recharged to make a positive impact on the design of the built environment,” said Rensselaer Assistant Professor Rhett Russo, who co-led the project along with Lydia Kallipoliti, assistant professor at Cooper Union, and Andreas Theodoridis, a Ph.D. candidate in the Brooklyn-based Center for Architecture Science and Ecology (CASE).