Shipping containers done right

Image courtesy of O+A

Image courtesy of O+A

Here is a temporary installation made from shipping containers by the Dutch firm O+A. It's the first time I've seen shipping containers successfully used to create space.

What I've seen in other projects is an attempt to put inhabitable spaces into the containers themselves... but they are just too small. A good (bad) example is a temporary shipping container mall I recently visited in Brooklyn, NY where small stores were crammed into the 8'x8' containers, and the containers were arranged like houses on a street. One felt like being in a prison cell while shopping, and the outdoor space was used mainly for circulation.

What's different here is that the containers form the walls of larger spaces, rather than being used as the spaces themselves. The 8' dimensions within the containers forms a complex boundary zone used for display or special seating areas adjacent to the main space.