Heinken's failed "brick bottles"

Vestal Design sez, 'In the 1950s, Alfred Heineken had a square beer bottle designed which could stack, to be used as bricks in developing countries. This provided good insulation, and excellent reuse of materials. Unfortunately the "World Beer" project didn't take off.'

A 10' x 10' shack would take approximately 1000 bottles to build, but the Jamaican tourist industry would likely supply plenty. In addition, glass (and air) are good insulators, though the humid and hot Jamaican climate may not require insulation per se. A unique feature was that the short bottle neck would fit into a depression in the bottom of each bottle. Ultimately though, the idea was either (according to different accounts) voted down by the Heineken board, or vetoed by the bottle companies and the customers. Not much information is available on the World Bottle today, but there have been other attempts to make interlocking "bottle bricks", even of plastic.

Link

(Thanks, Vestal Design!)