Here at Re-Nest we definitely celebrate creative reuse, whether it's small-scale or large. This falls under the large category. And of course, it's a riff on the shipping container buildings we're so in love with, like this one, or this one, or this one. But instead of a single-family dwelling, this is meant for a community--an idea that green architects are really taking hold of these days.
The community above is the winning design of Live the Box: An International Design Competition. Jump below for more info and a link to the NYT story.
More than just a way to reuse shipping containers as dwellings, this was a competition to create a mutli-family, mixed use community. The winners were announced in December: Felix Heidgen and Thomas Nagy won for their "NewPark Station" community, pictured above.
The community hasn't gotten past the theoretical stages, according to the NYT, but the fact that they've come this far is testament enough that the second R--reuse--is at the forefront of architects' minds.
What do you think? Will we be seeing communities like this pop up all over the world? We hope so.
Architect's illustration from RMJM in Princeton.
There used to be a shopping complex in the Philippines that used the shipping containers for each shop. I thought that was a great idea. The design wasn't as good as this one though.
view luluinthesky's profile
it looks quite similar to Habitat 67 built in Montreal, Canada during the world expo 67!
http://habitat67.ca/
view stacyp's profile