Hasta La Ideas

Over the next months we will be highlighting award-winning projects and ideas from this year’s Core77 Design Awards! For full details on the project, jury commenting and more information about the awards program, go to Core77DesignAwards.com

Designer: Jeff Zischke
Location: Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
Category: DIY/Hack/Mod
Award: Notable

Solar Soda Lights

Solar soda lights are made from repurposed plastic soda cups and a solar module. Various designs were created that are cut out of the cups creating a modern and green approach to solar lighting. The translucent properties of the plastic illuminates all night long with a 2-3 hour daytime charge.

Millions of plastic soda cups are used and thrown away each day around the world. I wondered if the ubiquitous plastic cups used at fast food places could be transformed and repurposed as solar light fixtures. Would they illuminate well? How could the cups transform into a variety of different shapes? Could they be functional as well as sculptural?

I see the Solar Soda Cups as a novel approach to reusing a mass marketed product. I can imagine creating a campaign with any of the fast food companies that could use the green concept of the solar light and using printing that evokes a green message as well as relates to a new design/new attitude towards the soda cup. A website is being developed that would talk about solar lighting and share design ideas with the wide audience that uses plastic cups.

Read on for full details on the project and jury comments.

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