In the 1950s, Malcolm McLean developed a modular design that would simplify the loading and offloading of ships, boxing up goods for easier loading and unloading between trains, trucks and boats The standardization of cargo containers revolutionized the modern shipping industry. Today, though, an increasing number of the world’s 20,000,000+ containers are being adapted to new uses, transformed into homes and offices, schools, shops, stages and more.

Proponents of containerized architecture note that the units are generally inexpensive — for many shipping companies, it is easier to sell off unpacked modules than return them to points of origin. Containers are built to be robust and strong, resistant to weather and fire and able to convey heavy loads around the globe. They are also made to be stacked easily on top of one another, which can be useful in creating multistory cargotecture.

Aesthetically, painted metal containers evoke that ever-popular industrial look a lot of people seek out in converted factories with exposed materials. Container reuse can be sustainable, too, particularly when one considers the energy-intensive process of melting them down for recycling. Some container architecture projects take advantage of the mobile and modular nature of the cargo containers used to build them.

For those inclined toward do-it-yourself approaches, the proliferation of online guides offers a starting point to buying and building container homes. As more individuals and companies engage in creative reuses, standardized methods are evolving, too, for making modifications that meet building codes and streamlining processes like permitting and code compliance, together paving the way for future container-based projects.

Shipping container architecture, however, evokes strong reactions from skeptics as well. “The shipping container is to today’s avant-garde architecture what the pipe railing was to the early International Style,” writes design critic Theodore Grunewald, “an industrial objet trouvé; a totem fetishized more for its aesthetic qualities and poetic and symbolic associations than its practicality.” He cites Dr. Richard Williams, a professor of contemporary visual cultures, whose also has reservations: “They’re great for doing what they were designed to do, which is transporting stuff. A simple technology, they have helped facilitate global trade like no other. But they’re designed for things, not people. Dark, damp and airless, boiling in the summer and freezing in the winter, they’re hopeless living and working spaces.”

There is truth in these criticisms. Without significant modifications for controlling indoor climates, for instance, metal container shells make for poor insulators. In some cases, the answer is to more extensively retrofit them, though of course that adds time, cost and environmental impacts. It is worth keeping in mind that (like any design solution) containers will work (or not work) differently in different places. The standardization of containers and their ability to travel the world doesn’t mean that they provide equal architectural benefits around every port of call.

As with any material or building unit, there are going to be specific project, client and site needs and considerations. Individual containers come in standard sizes, which can be an advantage and a disadvantage depending on the desired program and layout requirements. The world is full of buildings made from unusual materials, including hay bales, tires, soda cans and beer bottles — availability and location play a role in where and how each of these works as well. In places where containers are cheap and the climate is ideal, adaptations can be easier and well worth doing.

A lot of container criticism is also aimed at more pie-in-the-sky ideas, like modular buildings with interchangeable parts. These more ambitious and concept-driven designs, including container skyscrapers and mobile city-to-city apartments, may or may not make it off the drawing board.

On the more practical side, though, ever more companies are evolving repeatable and modular solutions, including materials and methods of insulation, plumbing and electrical wiring specifically designed to work with container structures. Such solutions can make it easier to assemble and outfit cargotecture much more quickly than one might erect a non-prefab alternative. In construction, speed and prefabrication is helpful in reducing energy, time and labor inputs.

Meanwhile, municipal authorities and commercial construction firms recognizing these benefits continue to build large cargo container projects, including emergency shelters as well as group homes, community centers, industrial parks and office complexes. To an extent, the cycle is self-reinforcing as well: as more projects get completed, it becomes easier and more efficient for other container architects and DIY builders to start similar projects of their own.

Ever wonder what it would be like to work on a container ship, traveling across the Earth’s oceans and seeing its cities from a new perspective? Canadian photographer and sailor Jeffrey Tsang provides a window into world with videos like this one:

Spanning a month at sea, the sped-up images capture the barge’s journey from the Red Sea to Hong Kong. Around 80,000 photos shot in 4K depict “breathtaking views of quickly shifting skies, deep red sunsets, and brilliant blue lightening amidst ferocious storms,” per Colossal. For the full effect, enlarge it to full size, sit back and enjoy the ever-shifting weather and scenery.

Tsang has produced a huge collection of excellent videos detailing his life and work, giving viewers insights into the world of cargo shipping one container at a time with bridge tours, anchor demonstrations, safety explanations and reasons to (or not to) pursue a similar maritime career.

“Sailing in the open sea is a truly unique way to grasp how significantly small we are in the beautiful world,” the photographer says. “Chasing the endless horizon, witnessing the ever changing weather, and appreciating the bright stars and galaxies.”

His are not the only high-seas adventures out there for container fans and cargo lovers, however. Below is another documentary video worth a watch for those anyone interested in the inner working of these ocean-going behemoths.

New to cargo ships and how containers revolutionized shipping? Took a look at this explainer video from Vox and take a listen to the podcast series Containers produced by Alexis Madrigal.

Lifting cargo ships out of boat yards in the water up onto adjacent land, a Dutch design firm is creating a series of creatively recycled estates using maritime vessels that are no longer seaworthy.

The Dutch firm, Studio Komma, has dubbed their project the Marine-doc Estate. Their process involves matching different ships to ideal lots and landscapes while also maximizing connections between land and water.

The former merchant ships are spacious, lending themselves to large outdoor areas and expansive greened roofs. The original metal will be cut into to create windows and doors, but left sufficiently intact to retain structural integrity. Each ship is different, resulting in a series of unique homes bound together by a shared nautical heritage.

According to the architects, original features such as the stern, wheelhouse and foredeck will be enhanced with “sleek geometric shapes” on the exterior, combining modern features with original details. Measuring up to 200 feet in length, the elongated volume of the interior will be broken up with flexible partitions that will enable future residents to personalize the layout.

Starbucks‘ new double-decker drive thru restaurant and cafe in Taiwan’s Hualien Bay Mall was constructed using 29 recycled shipping containers.

Starbucks may be known for spelling (and occasionally misspelling) customers’ names on its containers but that hasn’t put the coffee superpower off containers per se. Far from it, in fact: re-purposing shipping containers into sipping cafes fits hand-in-glove with the firm’s environmentally-friendly Greener Stores framework, a program that aims to design, build and operate 10,000 greener Starbucks stores globally by the year 2025.

Containerment Strategy

Our featured Starbucks store is the first retail storefront to open in the Hualien Bay Mall, located in the Taiwanese city of Hualien. This city of just over 100,000 residents is located on the Pacific Ocean seashore in northeastern Taiwan, roughly 30 minutes by air from the capital city of Taipei. The store is designed to serve customers on-the-go via an integrated drive thru, or indoors where 320 square meters (3,445 square feet) of well-lit, comfortably furnished space fosters an atmosphere of peaceful relaxation. Website YA! Travel posted the images above on September 25th of 2018.

Cargo Coffee Cult

Renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma penned the store’s exterior design, shown above under construction in early 2018. This isn’t Kuma’s first espresso-shot, either: his name is written all over (figuratively speaking) a Starbucks store in the southern Japanese city of Fukuoka and the highly anticipated Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Tokyo. Those two projects don’t involve the use of shipping containers, however, as Kuma has never worked with this “medium” in ANY of his previous projects.

Shipping Manifesto Destiny

Working with shipping containers poses certain challenges to architects, putting it mildly, but the jumbo metal boxes offer certain benefits. In the case of the Hualien Bay Mall store, stacking the shipping containers one atop the other resulted in a much taller main floor ceiling. The containers are also amenable to modifications such as skylights, which allow for the ingress of natural sunlight. Off-the-shelf shipping containers aren’t exactly known for being inwardly brilliant.

29 Containers 4 Cups

Dressing up the Starbucks store’s interior – aka, reducing the cold, harsh, shipping container vibe – took a colossal effort but the results speak for themselves. OK, we’ll speak a bit as well: the decor style was an homage to the rich cultural history of Hualien City. Colorful murals evoke the heritage of the Sakiraya Taiwanese aboriginal people who gave the town its original name of “Kiray”. Plush, comfortable customer seating areas provide scenic views of the rugged Zhongyang (“Central”) mountain range. Other graphic decor features illustrate the story of coffee, one of humanity’s most cherished beverages. Those coffee cups are cool, too.

‘Bucking Trends

The Starbucks “Greener Stores” initiative, announced on-stage at The Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, aims to save the company roughly $50 million in utilities costs over the coming decade. The framework is to be co-developed with leading environmental experts including the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), while its ongoing effectiveness will be audited and verified by Scientific Certification Systems Global Services. “This framework represents the next step in how Starbucks is approaching environmental stewardship,” stated Erin Simon, Director of R&D at WWF US, “looking holistically at stores and their role in helping to ensure the future health of our natural resources.”

Containers, Caffeine, Contentment

The new Starbucks store at the Hualien Bay Mall in Taiwan is the latest cafe to be constructed from recycled shipping containers. In the United States alone, Starbucks has opened 45 modular cafes, pre-fabricated and built off-site. This construction method allows Starbucks to open stores in areas and regions that are not easily amenable to traditional store construction. At the same time, the company can minimize the environmental impact of construction while integrating reused, recycled and reclaimed materials in their designs.

Taiwan, West of Java

After a slow start, Starbucks seems to have embraced the concept of green business as appealing to its target demographic without abandoning the pursuit of profits. The push is coming from the executive suite. “Simply put, sustainable coffee, served sustainably is our aspiration,” states Kevin Johnson, President and CEO of Starbucks. “We know that designing and building green stores is not only responsible, it is cost effective as well.” Mull on that a while – while you sip a frappuccino, of course.

Rising up from its corner lot like a ship on a wave, this shipping container home in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is a stunning private residence made from sliced, diced and strategically reassembled cargo boxes.

The cut containers were flipped and reassembled to avoid waste, reusing various angled sections generated through diagonal slicing (images by Danny Bright). Moving through the home, the logic of these cuts becomes increasingly clear.

Designed by LOT-EK, a firm famous for its industrial-style containertecture, the corrugated facade is spliced with vertical windows along the sides. Along the front and back, container ends open up for larger views and terraced roof access — there are outdoor spaces at each level, given privacy thanks to the angled cuts. Below, those same cuts provide a natural opening for the building’s sunken entry, garage and cellar.

Social living, dining and kitchen spaces are on the first floor. The inside is also shaped by the slice angles, forming spaces like a media room with bleacher seating and a projector. Upper levels include bedrooms, play areas and other private spaces.