Modular Design :: Container Architecture

As mentioned, the shipping container became a perfect way to synthesize a lot of my developing concepts, but it was not chosen right away.  Before I was confident that I wanted to invest this project into an exploration of container architecture, I first did some case studies on more the more general topics of modularity and mobility.

modularity
I felt this was a big program for just one building, and given the nature of community-centric building projects, I thought the project might in reality have to be phased.  Therefore, I tried to distill the program into units that could grow over time.  As I diagrammed it, this idea of modular growth took on a molecular feel.

Salvador Dali.  Exploding Raphaelesque Head (1951).

My mind immediately recalled Salvador Dali's "atomic mysticism" period, especially those works that fused architecture with anatomy, such as Exploding Raphaelesque Head (1951), which fuses an interior shot of the Pantheon dome with a Madonna-like head in the style of Raphael.

This painting is very dynamic and looks as though it is a still from a condition in motion.  This directly related to my interest in mobility as well.




I began to mock-diagram program relationships and adjacencies in the style of atomic or molecular structure diagrams from chemistry 101.

Molecular clusters, atomic chains, and recombinant "DNA".

case studies
Looking at the program this way, I could see potential for emphasizing the mobility and changeability of my program and building.  Is it something that could take on several different (per-)mutations?  To investigate this idea, I looked into a few case studies.

Yorkshire Diamond by Various Architects.

This project is both molecular and mobile in its structure, made of inflated tubes and can be packed up and moved elsewhere.

To see the full case study on this project, click here.

Mountain Homes by BIG.

Habitat in Montreal by Safdie.

The Mountain Homes in Copenhagen and the Habitat in Montreal are two examples that bring the idea of modularity and molecular growth closer to the idea of space in architecture.  The two projects develop as a stacking of inhabitable masses, but each takes a different approach to the manner of stacking.

To see the full case study on these two buildings, click here.

Though each of these studies had their lessons to teach, none of them were particularly instructive to the direction my project was taking.  I was not interested in a take-down and pack-up type of project, nor was I interested in creating a stacked maze of boxes.  The BIG project was the closest in suggesting a building geometry for me, or at least reinforcing that which I was already thinking.  I did finally find much more interesting examples when I looked specifically at container architecture.


container architecture :: case studies
I visited the Freitag HQ in Switzerland last Spring in my studio class, and so it was an obvious first study.

Freitag Headquarters, Zurich by Spillmann/Echsle.

I enjoyed the use of space within the containers, and the way they were retrofitted to provide glazing, entrance, vertical circulation, etc.  This project is also relevant because the recycling of building materials and removal of items from the waste stream is important.  (Freitag's accessories are created from recycled industrial materials.)

To see the full case study, including interior images and structural details,
click here.

The Uniqlo mobile stores is a very interesting case study because it showcases a couple of very important considerations: How to potentially make parts of my program mobile How to maximize unit space Ways to modify the container without sacrificing structural integrity An understanding of how early phase pieces might look/work.  To see the full case study on the Uniqlo mobile stores, click here.  To see more LotEk container projects that were interesting to me, click here.

Uniqlo mobile stores by LotEk.

Thinking about a modular building, and one that might be constructed from a blocky unit like a shipping container, I thought it would be appropriate to make my next form-finding model from legos.  Here are a couple of images of it.

Plan view.  North facing up.

From 43rd St.  Perforated legos suggest cross-ventilation strategy.

From above, Southwest of site.

Cross-ventilation idea.

container research
The following are images I found in researching container architecture which reinforce their association to and reinforcement of my concept.

Disclaimer: Not my image; reproduced.

Disclaimer: Not my image; reproduced.

Returning to my overall building type, I started to identify typologies that may help me in developing the project.  These diagrams tried to reconcile my current interests with the previous diagramming of hubs and networks and almost start hinting at a mixed structural system (though I did not recognize it at the time).

Though I was really interested in doing so, I was not set on using the shipping containers for the building wholesale.  However, I decided that even if the containers do not physically create the building, I could at least start working with them as a module size, so I divided up my site into a matrix of 8'x20' "sub-parcels."

With this grid identified, subsequent form-finding and programming will take shape in increments of the 160sf unit derived from the shipping container.