The Bic Cristal Structure: A Suspended Canopy Made from Thousands of Recycled Bic Pens

Constructed by AAU Anastas, for the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) symposium in Amsterdam, "The Bic Cristal Structure" is a suspended chandelier-like canopy built from 10,000 recycled BIC Cristal pens. The idea behind the project was to create a structurally innovative pavilion from elements that were not conceived for structural purposes. The designers explain: "On social, industrial and commercial basis, the BIC Cristal pen represents a symbol of contemporary modernism. It is definitely not a structural element, yet an object anyone can recognize and probably has used. Employing modern aspects of the design process such as computer-aided design, engineering and manufacturing allowed us to change the function of the BIC pen in a unique way creating a structural paradigm that reflects our culture of recycling, reusing and transforming.