Shipping container architecture
Containers used for human occupancy in an environment with extreme temperature variations will normally have to be better insulated than most brick, block, or wood structures because steel conducts heat very well.
When futurist Stewart Brand needed a place to assemble the material he would use to write How Buildings Learn, he converted a shipping container into an office space in the early 1990s.
In 2000, the firm Urban Space Management completed a project called Container City I in the Trinity Buoy Wharf area of London.
[6] In 2006, Southern California Architect Peter DeMaria designed the first two-story shipping container home in the U.S., as an approved structural system under the strict guidelines of the nationally recognized Uniform Building Code (UBC).
Developing the concept further, Auro Foxcroft constructed recycled shipping container architecture that incorporated retired London Underground carriages.
Known for its eco-friendly approach, the company specializes in transforming upcycled shipping containers into luxury homes, chalets, offices, and resorts.
With a focus on innovation and sustainability, HCD has pioneered hybrid designs that combine the durability of shipping containers with modern, high-end finishes.
HCD continues to contribute to the container home industry by addressing housing and commercial needs while promoting environmental sustainability through the use of repurposed materials.
In 2010, German architect and production designer Stefan Beese used six 12-metre-long (39 ft) shipping containers to create a large viewing deck and VIP lounge area for the Voodoo Music Experience, New Orleans, as a substitute for typical grand stand scaffolding.
In the United Kingdom, walls of containers filled with sand have been used as large sandbags to protect against flying debris from exploding ceramic insulators in electricity substations.
In October 2013, two barges owned by Google with superstructures made out of shipping containers received media attention amid speculation about their purpose.
The biggest shopping mall or organized market in Europe is made up of alleys formed by stacked containers, on 69 hectares (170 acres) of land, between the airport and the central part of Odesa, Ukraine.
In 2011, the Cashel Mall in Christchurch, New Zealand reopened in a series of shipping containers, months after it had been destroyed in the earthquake that devastated the city's central business district.
These manufactured goods come to North America from Asia and, to a lesser extent, Europe, in containers that often have to be shipped back empty, or "deadhead", at considerable expense.
Containers have been utilized by architects and individuals to build diverse structures, including homes, offices, apartments, schools, dormitories, artists studios, and emergency shelters.
The patent documentation shows what are possibly the earliest recorded plans for constructing shipping container housing and shelters by laying out some very basic architectural concepts.
Paul Sawyers previously described extensive shipping container buildings used on the set of the 1985 film Space Rage Breakout on Prison Planet.
Containers continue to be used for military shelters, often additionally fortified by adding sandbags to the side walls, to protect against weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades ("RPGs").
