Shipping containers can house lots of things, from luxury hotel rooms and woodsy bungalows to Starbucks stores and mobilized pizza. Considering the cost of fully adapting a shipping container for living—as this Brooklyn couple discovered after $400,000 in expenses—we applaud this breezy, beach-ready pavilion. Hatched by the Beijing product design outfit Jikerzhicheng, the Jike Idea Shipping Container Innovation Building has no doors. Instead, the porchlike base is left open to breezes, which ventilate the structure as they pass through operable porthole windows at the top. Think of it as a hammock with a roof! And check out the pictures.

There’s something irresistible about the idea of bringing mobile architecture to the beach, particularly in flood zones. Who needs a house on stilts when you have a flatbed truck? (Only applies if you have a flatbed truck.) Still, design buffs can find comfort in this innovation, if only to argue that one really doesn’t need a frumpy camper to sleep under the stars.

Adding a raised platform to the setup allows the Jike Idea container to convert to other uses, such as a shady pavilion or a tea house. Pony not included.

All images courtesy of Jikerzhicheng Product Design

[via designboom]

by Lamar Anderson

posted in sustainable design

tagged shipping container architecture, shipping containers

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