Making architecture from shipping containers showcases the salvaging of ready-made components or materials repurposed toward new functions. Stacking, clustering, aligning and juxtaposing volumetric boxes makes conceptual sense, as it is possible to imagine multiple arrangements, from a standardized chunk, spreading in every direction. Further, the unitary autonomy of each composing box makes it conceivable to define buildings as material banks ready to be disassembled and transported indefinitely or even reusing the boxes as shipping containers if need be. This cyclical adaptability can be part of both a scalable and resilient community development strategy. Especially in areas that are in critical need of rapidly developed and affordable housing. One of the first applications of container building to container urbanism was undertaken at Trinity Buoy Warf, part of London’s Docklands. The first phase of ISO container stacking was finalized in 2001. The 14 dwelling units in Container City I employed 40-foot (12-meter) volumes in a three-storey configuration with a fourth floor added following high demand for the live/work units. Delivery, setting, positioning and assembly of the building required only four days demonstrating what has become modular construction’s greatest confirmed asset - speed.
A design build experiment by a consortium uniting Container City and Nicholas Lacey architects, the project expresses the containers honestly, as ready-made architecture. Mod-lines (modular volumetric juxtaposition lines) connect and bridge onsite with offsite construction. In this case, mod-lines are expressed on the outside of the building as if it was a simple stacking in a port side shipment. Containers can’t simply be stacked; openings for interior systems, finishes, windows, structural connections and insulation are some of the necessary modifications that transform the steel shipping containers into viable living spaces. At Container City I, interiors dissimulate the underlying containers with conventional systems and finishes. This type of aggregation shows that modular or container urbanism has the potential to provide quality housing both rapidly and creatively. While the container itself with a modular width of 8’ (2.4 m) does not provide for very flexible living spaces, containers could be modified and juxtaposed to compose 16’ (4.8 m) wide spaces, which offer more flexibility.
Stacked ISO containers at Container City I
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