1. Sutton Publishing
  2. Author: David Long
  3. ISBN: 0–7509–4187–1
  4. Copyright © 2006 David Long

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Container City

Creating a uniquely colourful arts, residential and community centre using old sea containers, this imaginative exercise in recycling is situated across the river from the Millennium Dome at Leamouth. As such it continues a maritime tradition which for more than 200 years has seen this area of east London active in the manufacture of buoys, docking equipment and in particular lightships.

Following the decline of most marine and manufacturing activities along this stretch of the Thames, a competition was held to decide what to do with the large number of often quite attractive listed buildings in the area. Eventually the London Docklands Development Corporation selected a highly creative outfit called Urban Space Management which had a plan to develop this particular site, called Trinity Buoy Wharf, as a cultural centre for the arts with artists' studios, workshops and exhibition spaces.

An important part of the USM proposal was to build the arts centre using recycled metal shipping containers, a solution which kept costs to a minimum and allowed for extremely rapid construction. In all, thirty self-contained workspaces were planned, to be built in two phases and called Container City 1 and Container City 2. The containers were stacked five storeys high in an attractively complex arrangement whereby some overhanging boxes would be supported on secondary steel framing to make space for vehicles to pass beneath.

Fitted with large sliding windows and pivoting portholes, and sprayed with insulation to prevent the build-up of condensation, a single 8ft x 8ft x 40ft container, said USM, would suffice for a small studio or office. However, a key component of the concept was to ensure that the boxes interconnected in such a way as to allow for a variety of different interiors with a great degree of flexibility.

As a prototype the design must surely prove a winner, a concept which makes even more sense as the global stockpile of disused containers continues to grow. Cheap, durable and extremely strong despite walls just 2mm thick, the 4-ton containers are also longlasting and designed to be readily transportable. Able to be installed rapidly and at a very low initial cost - less than half the cost of conventional construction, say USM - when brightly painted they are also cheerfully funky. Little wonder then that already the idea has been used to create offices, workshops, modish live-work modules, even a pre-school nursery in Harlesden, north London. Being able to support ten times their own weight when stacked, such constructions require very little in the way of foundations and, stacked on end, the containers can even be used to create stair and lift towers while balconies can be fashioned from the disused doors.