A different kind of look under the hood

Flickr user luxomedia

Culture maven that I am, I had never heard of San Francisco's Panhandle Bandshell until about 10  minutes before I started typing this.

Thanks to GreenUpgrader.com, however, I not only know of it, but now I have something to talk about right now.

The Panhandle Bandshell is the result of a collaborative effort between several SF-based artists and designers, who set out to prove that through creativity, reuse, and recycling, a structure could be created that helps enhance the community by providing a venue for entertainment.

Everything that went into the structure would have otherwise ended up as trash.

Take a close look at the photo above (taken by Flickr user luxomedia). It's made of car parts, you see. The amphitheater's construction includes 65 junked automobile hoods, which provide the primary exterior covering for the shell. They're all the same color on the inside, but their original finishes appear to have been retained on the outside, adding shots of color to the structure.

I'll be honest, it's not the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, but you know the saying: Eye of the beholder and whatnot. Additional trim is provided by recycled PC circuit boards, the structure is built around recycled steel, and the stage itself appears to be made of old wood like doors that would have otherwise been trashed, according to GreenUpgrader.

The whole thing is modular, so it can be broken down for storage or relocation ... ideally towed by someone driving a pickup running on waste french fry oil. I mean, that'd be in keeping with the whole reuse thing going on here, right?

There are a number of great photos of the bandshell taken by the general public up on Flickr, where you can better see some of the nitty-gritty, like the thousands of reused water bottles that also went into the construction.

Neat stuff all around.

Alex Nunez's blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.