Image via Complex Original
The most innovative spaces and residences tend to be futuristic or ultra-contemporary buildings that look like they are straight out of Aeon Flux. But when you think of innovative architecture, it isn’t often that structures made from old shipping containers come to mind. Recycled shipping containers are collected and modified to become shops, offices, homes, studios, hotels, and more. This eco-friendly and creative approach to architecture inspired this list of The 25 Coolest Structures Made From Shipping Containers.
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25. Push Botton House 1
25. Push Botton House 1
Location: Miami
Architect: Adam Kalkin
Push Botton House 1 was displayed at Art Basel Miami in 2005 as a conceptual piece and isn't stable enough to be used as a home. The house is designed to use hydraulic power to lift and lower the sides of the shipping container, expanding and contracting the space as needed.
24. Starbucks Drive-Thru and Walk-Up Store
24. Starbucks Drive-Thru and Walk-Up Store
Location: Tukwila, WA
Architect: Co.Design 50
Rooted from the fact that Starbucks receives its coffee and tea products from overseas in similar shipment boxes, the company built a store from four refurbished containers. Using their interior spaces for retail, service, recycling, and storage, the location reflects the company's aspiration to reduce waste and incorporate greener practices in the business.
23. Nakagin Capsule Tower
23. Nakagin Capsule Tower
Location: Tokyo
Architect: Kisho Kurokawa
The Nakagin Capsule Tower, built in in 1972, was the first capsule architecture design; it was created with the intention of housing traveling businessmen that worked in central Tokyo. The tower has 140 capsules stacked at angles around a central core, and each container can be replaced or exchanged when necessary.
22. Infiniski Manifesto House
22. Infiniski Manifesto House
Location: Curacaví, Chile
Architect: James & Mau
The construction company that built Infiniski specializes in building eco-friendly houses and buildings based on the use of recycled, reused, and non-polluting materials. The house relies on bioclimatic architecture, so the form, materials, and positioning are based on the house's energy use.
21. Sauna Box
21. Sauna Box
Location: Canada
Architect: Castor Canadensis
Sauna Box is a fully-functional wood-burning sauna with a cedar interior and a solar panel for power. The sauna comes standard with an integrated iPod stereo, an electric guitar hook-up, a Castor stool, a magnetic truck light, and bronze antlers.
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20. Containers of Hope
20. Containers of Hope
Location: San Jose, Costa Rica
Architect: Benjamin Garcia Saxe Architecture
Located on a property near but outside the city, the home was constructed using two recycled containers and scrap metal pieces. The entire cost of creating the residence was lower than that of the housing provided for the poor in Costa Rica, suggesting new design concepts that can meet lower budgets but still satisfy high expectations.
19. Urban Farm Units
19. Urban Farm Units
Location: Zurich, Switzerland, Berlin, Germany, and Brussels, Belgium
Architect: Damien Chivialle
Urban Farm Units was designed as a shared garden consisting of a shipping container with a greenhouse extension on its roof. Each structure is scalable and includes hydroponics, an industrial greenhouse, scaffolding, and an open-top container. The structure is used to farm produce according to the needs of local residents and can be moved anywhere.
18. Puma City
18. Puma City
Location: Transportable
Architect: LOT-EK Architecture & Design
Constructed using 24 refurbished containers, Puma City is a transportable mega Puma store. With three stories and over 11,000-square-feet, it includes a bar and lounge area, as well as two outdoor decks. The structure is designed so that it can easily be shipped and assembled at different locations around the world.
17. Cité A Docks
17. Cité A Docks
Location: Le Havre, France
Architect: Cattani Architects
The Cité A Docks is a student housing project of 100 apartments made out of old shipping containers, located in Le Havre, France. The structure is spread over 4 floors and all of the apartments overlook a garden inside. The apartments are also equipped with glass walls that allow natural lighting.
16. Xiang Xiang Pray House
16. Xiang Xiang Pray House
Location: Nan Dazhan Cun, China
Architect: Tonghe Shanzhi Landscape Design
Xiang Xiang Pray House has 21 cozy guest rooms arranged on the side of a hill in Changski, China. The entire project looks like a bleak 35 containers arranged outside, but the interiors are quite the opposite. Each room has a skylight, wi-fi, water, electricity, traditional Chinese decor, and air conditioning.
15. Boxpark Shoreditch
15. Boxpark Shoreditch
Location: London
Architect: Waugh and Thistleton Architects
Boxpark Shoreditch is the world's first pop-up mall, made up of 60 standard shipping containers painted black. Each shipping container was transformed into a retail space for a select group of newcomer and veteran brands.
14. Google Campus
14. Google Campus
Location: London
Architect: Jump Studios
Google Campus contains a series of open-plan workspaces and lockers throughout seven stories. This space is intended to promote co-working and events, and is located centrally in London.
13. KT: The Listening Room
13. KT: The Listening Room
Location: Tokyo
Architect: MAT Studio / Elastik
A 20-foot shipping container was transformed into the KT: The Listening Room, filled with corrugated fiberboard and compressed polyester foam panels, which cut out exterior noise and vibrations. The listening room contains 15 speakers to fill the space with music. KT: The Listening Room was an installation specifically designed for the Tokyo Designers Week 2008.
12. Decameron Retail Store
12. Decameron Retail Store
Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil
Architect: Studio Mk27
The Decameron embraces low-budget building methods as it consists of colorfully painted shipping containers neighbored by palm trees and a pebble garden. The store has received an award for best shopping building at the World Architecture Festival, as its compartments were planned to leave the existing growth of trees undisturbed while creating a vibrant, open environment for shopping.
11. Multi-Storey Temporary Housing
11. Multi-Storey Temporary Housing
Location: Japan
Architect: Shigeru Ban Architects
Multi-Storey Temporary Housing is a series of 188 homes in Onagawa for those left homeless by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. The housing can be placed on unlevel terrain to withstand further earthquakes. Although Multi-Storey Temporary Housing is intended to be short-term, the residents can choose to stay there permanently.
10. Holiday Cabana at Maduru Oya
10. Holiday Cabana at Maduru Oya
Location: Sri Lanka
Architect: Damith Prematikake
Holiday Cabana at Maduru Oya was made using a stray shipping container and timber from weapon boxes. The cabana sits on an army training camp surrounded by jungle and faces onto a lake. The space was built for a lieutenant without a skilled construction crew, employing soldiers under the architect's instruction.
9. Tony's Farm
9. Tony's Farm
Location: Shanghai, China
Architect: Playze
Tony's Farm is a cluster of sustainable shipping containers used as offices for an organic farm in Shanghai, China. Local bamboo was used for indoor and outdoor flooring, and the space also features an inner courtyard and terrace.
8. Oceanscope
8. Oceanscope
Location: Song-do New City, Incheon, South Korea
Architect: AnL studio
Oceanscope is a public observatory deck comprised of mostly recycled materials and five recycled containers initiated by the Mayor of Incheon City. The city has one of the biggest ports in Korea, making this an ideal location. The shipping containers are angled at various degrees to overcome the low ground level and allow visitors to view the sunset.
7. Cargo
7. Cargo
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Architect: group8
Cargo is comprised of 16 recycled shipping containers, all of which have been used extensively across the world. The containers were preserved as they were found, giving the inside of the office a genuine patchwork feel, stacked upon each other to provide more vertical space than a traditional office.
6. Whitney Studio
6. Whitney Studio
Location: New York
Architect: LOT-EK Architecture & Design
The Whitney Studio was commissioned by the Whitney Museum as a new art studio space for special exhibitions. The space is made up of 6 steel shipping containers neatly formed into a modern and minimalist cube.The studio will also incorporate activities for the museum's education program.
5. ECOntainer Bridge
5. ECOntainer Bridge
Location: Sharon Park, Israel
Architect: Yoav Messer Architects
ECOntainer Bridge is still in the design process, with the idea that each part of the bridge can be finished off-site and later assembled. The bridge will feature multi-colored shipping containers, some of which will become observation decks. The project is located in Ariel Sharon Park and is still under construction.
4. Sky Is The Limit
4. Sky Is The Limit
Location: Yang Yang, South Korea
Architect: Didier Faustino
Near the Korean Demilitarized Zone is an elevated structure of two shipping containers that serve as both an observation deck and a tea house. At 20-meters-high and five flights of stairs up, the structure offers a unique experience and views of the high tension area located near the border dividing North and South Korea.
3. Platoon Kunsthalle
3. Platoon Kunsthalle
Location: Seoul, Korea
Architect: Platoon Cultural DevelopmentPlatoon Kunsthalle, which opened in 2009, is a space designed specifically for subculture movements that are typically under the radar. The space was built using 28 stacked shipping containers from a unique construction that can be rebuilt anywhere, The idea was to have a location to foster new ideas and promote creative fields like street art, graphic design, fashion, video art, programming, music, club culture, and political activism.
2. Hoonigan Racing Division Headquarters
2. Hoonigan Racing Division Headquarters
Location: Park City, UT
Architect: Ken Block
The Hoonigan Racing Division's headquarters is made up of 17 shipping containers that provide spaces for office work and a service workshop for the team's vehicles. The offices house the team's marketing and administration departments and can provide enough room for up to 25 employees.
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1. APAP Open School
1. APAP Open School
Location: Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Architect: LOT-EK Architecture & Design
APAP Open School is located along the river edge over Hakwoon Park pedestrian walkway, allowing for an additional recreational space. The space includes a public amphitheater and a large, multi-purpose space that serves as an assembly room and exhibition space, intended to promote open and public communication.