The Forever Lodge

"Me, Myself, & Styrene"

The lodge was built with simple styrene sheet and mr. cement over a few days, after watching an Adam Savage build. There are four upper and two lower units. Design goals included a flat roof, covered parking, and as much light perforation as possible. Working with styrene was much like working in CAD design software. The result is smoother than a printed-part, but has it's own hand-built imperfections.

Before rating this material, I did some checking. Polystyrene is stronger and lighter than PLA, but it's also a non-organic petrochemical. PLA biodegrades, while polystyrene persists hundreds of years. This little lodge will outlast my house! 

♸

Many plastics are not recycled, even when sent to a sorting center, unless required by law. The industry often produces material at lower costs than recycling. These symbols are insufficient without adjusting cost structure. Thinking about the 200 tons of plastic already floating in the ocean - we should reduce and reuse this stuff. I saw folks doing interesting projects with sheet aluminum from beer cans, and plastic from food containers.

The photo was a result of me constantly checking scale with Tiny Science Guy. The white styrene catches light and makes dramatic shadows. I used the Nikon 50mm - my phone couldn't spot focus. Luminar did a decent perspective correction. Sadly, the AI wasn't able to identify sky, so this is a low-budget gimp sky simulation. Doing it this way I lost blues in the shadow side of the building.