13 houses made from strange building materials

Houses are different. And if one of us is looking for more expensive, more luxurious, then some decide to build a house themselves ... moreover, from improvised materials. Unfortunately, many do it not just out of a whim, but because they cannot afford full-fledged housing for some reason. In any case, all these houses are quite unusual and all, without exception, are built from unusual building materials.

(Total 13 photos)

1. Replica of the oldest coffee shop in Nivelles, Belgium. This store alone is made from 14,000 cases of Carlsberg beer. Construction began in August 2007 in an attempt to set a new world record for the largest beer crate building. (Rex Features)

2. In 2009, Top Gear host James May and about 1,000 volunteers built the world's first complete Lego house in Surrey. The construction took 3.3 million plastic bricks. The house has a toilet and shower. (Rex Features)

3. A Chinese worker built this unusual egg house because he couldn't afford to rent an apartment in Beijing. This booth is made from bamboo sticks, bags of seeds and sawdust. The house stands in the courtyard of a residential complex. (Rex Features)

4. Artist Tito Ingenieri from Argentina built a house out of over 30,000 bottles. (Rex Features)

5. A Palestinian in southern Gaza built a house out of sandbags. He used sand instead of cement, steel and gravel because building materials were in short supply. (Rex Features)

6. And here is a grass house on the Hardangervidda plateau in Norway. (Rex Features)

7. Originally built as a barracks for World War II soldiers, this Nissen hut has been transformed into a modern home thanks to the craftsmanship and imagination of Ann Lewis and her husband. In October 2006, the house was put up for sale for nearly £500,000. (Rex Features)

8. This house was built almost entirely from garbage, including used car tires. (Rex Features)

9. China House Porcelain Museum in the coastal town of Tianjin is covered with millions of pieces of antique porcelain and 20 tons of crystal. The construction took five years. (AFP/Getty Images)

10. The corridor in the ice hotel in Sweden - the world's first ice hotel. The temperature in the rooms is -5ºС. (AFP/Getty)

11. Container City in east London is old shipping containers that have been turned into living quarters, including studios for artists. With the help of this technique, the construction company "Urban Space Management" has created more than 15 such houses. (Eleanor Bentall)

12. 76-year-old Maria Pons in front of her house made of plastic bottles, in the village of El Borbollon, in 2007. She built a house out of bottles because she couldn't afford to buy a more comfortable home. (AFP/Getty)

13. Caroline Barry built a house out of bales of straw, lumber and plastic bottles. The house is not electrified, all power comes from solar panels, a hydro turbine and a wind turbine. (Christopher Jones)