OLD&D participated in the 3rd Annual Brookwood School Sustainability Fair to demonstrate the importance of sustainable practices in architecture. Children understand the basics of recycling and perhaps even of repurposing. OLD&D introduced another concept for students – upcycling –- taking an everyday resource and creating it into something of higher artistic value.

Why upcycle a pallet? The wood used for the construction of pallets varies

To create your own Upcycled Pallet Birdhouse, click here to download the instructions.

For materials, see what is in your backyard or garage to use, or visit your local pallet distributor. OLD&D gathered pallets for our project from Beverly Pallet Company Inc. located in Ipswich, MA.

from poplar to pine, or plywood to foreign, domestic and composite woods. Pallets have a short lifespan. Once they have served their intended purpose, they are typically broken apart and then incinerated (a process that creates air pollution).

OLD&D’s LEED AP Henry Miller designed the Pallet Birdhouse for the purposes of demonstrating upcycling, as well as basic carpentry techniques and structural engineering concepts (and the fundamentals of geometry and

trigonometry by default). Children in attendance were asked to help build the birdhouse from a kit of parts derived from pallets headed for the incinerator.

The birdhouse can be easily made, yet is relatively transparent, allowing people to see the bird's nest. There is an opportunity, perhaps, to watch the birds build their own nest within the framework created, providing a further creative, educational opportunity – watching the birds upcycle their own found materials.