In 1963, Alfred “Freddy”
Heineken visited the Carribean Island of Curaçao where he was particularly
disturbed by the amount of pollution in the area and the poor state of the local housing. Not only was there a clear lack of effective building materials for the island’s lower class, but the amount of bottles (his bottles to be exact) littering their beaches was abominable. In order to find a solution to these issues, he teamed up with Dutch architect, John Habraken to design what would be called the WOBO (World Bottle). The world bottle would be a Heineken-branded beer bottle that would double as a stackable, self-aligning and interlocking brick made for building eco-homes. The final design came in two sizes; 350mm and 500mm which would be laid out horizontally, sharing a similar layout to ‘brick and mortar’ construction design. Heineken produced 100 000 WOBOs in a test run, and even constructed a whole home using the bottles near Freddy’s Heineken’s villa in Noordwijk, Netherlands. Unfortunately, however, the bottle never actually made it to the market. Reason being, customers of the 1960s preferred the look and feel of the rounded bottle and for Heineken, they couldn’t take such a great risk in bringing out the squares. Today, the shed at the Heineken estate and a wall made of WOBOs at the Heineken Museum in Amsterdam are the only structures where the ‘beer brick’ is used.
disturbed by the amount of pollution in the area and the poor state of the local housing. Not only was there a clear lack of effective building materials for the island’s lower class, but the amount of bottles (his bottles to be exact) littering their beaches was abominable. In order to find a solution to these issues, he teamed up with Dutch architect, John Habraken to design what would be called the WOBO (World Bottle). The world bottle would be a Heineken-branded beer bottle that would double as a stackable, self-aligning and interlocking brick made for building eco-homes. The final design came in two sizes; 350mm and 500mm which would be laid out horizontally, sharing a similar layout to ‘brick and mortar’ construction design. Heineken produced 100 000 WOBOs in a test run, and even constructed a whole home using the bottles near Freddy’s Heineken’s villa in Noordwijk, Netherlands. Unfortunately, however, the bottle never actually made it to the market. Reason being, customers of the 1960s preferred the look and feel of the rounded bottle and for Heineken, they couldn’t take such a great risk in bringing out the squares. Today, the shed at the Heineken estate and a wall made of WOBOs at the Heineken Museum in Amsterdam are the only structures where the ‘beer brick’ is used.
Perhaps the WOBO was
simply a product that was ahead of its time. 50 years on, and Freddy’s
plan may have taken off, considering the world’s new-found consciousness with the state of the environment and with social upliftment.
I believe it was, and
still is, a wonderful example of end-use innovation and brand design-thinking,
which had a lasting influence five decades later. More and more today, brands
are looking to propel themselves through value creation that goes above and beyond
just selling product.
The WOBO wall in at the Heineken Museum in Amsterdam
The WOBO house, Netherlands
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