{
  "id": 10011723,
  "title": "Heineken's 50,000 bottle-bricks in 1963 built a house in 1965, then hit a wall",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/26/heinekens-50-000-bottle-bricks-in-1963-built-a-house-in-1965-then-hit",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-26T15:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Times of India",
    "slug": "times-of-india",
    "url": "https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/in-1963-heineken-made-50000-world-bottles-designed-to-double-as-building-bricks-two-years-later-a-prototype-glass-house-was-built-but-technical-hurdles-stopped-the-concept-from-reaching-the-market/articleshow/134460785.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "In 1963, Heineken produced 50,000 rectangular beer bottles designed to work as building bricks after use. The WOBO bottles were created to address bottle waste and a shortage of building materials, but production costs, design challenges and customer preference for traditional bottles stopped the idea from reaching the market.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}