Creative NYC architecture firm LOT-EK made a brilliant work in 2008 for their client Puma: a store from reclaimed shipping containers in a particular location on Boston’s waterfront. Nothing new for talented LOT-EK architects who are specialised in these kind of architecture: shipping-container architecture. The shipping container store, Puma City, is another illustration of industrial design and adaptive reuse combined which makes public space more flexible and eco-friendly. Featuring an incredibly dynamic design, Puma City is the first container building of its scale to be truly mobile, an experimental one that takes full advantage of the global shipping network already in place. Although you won’t believed, but as architects say, it’s “designed to respond to all of the architectural challenges of a building of its kind, including international building code, dramatic climate changes, plug-in electrical and HVAC systems and ease of assembly and operations.” As a three-level building, with a 11,000 sf retail installation including a bar/lounge area and 2 decks, it’s made of 24 refurbished shipping containers and is fully dis-mountable so it can be packed up and shipped anywhere. A practice that has been doing an interesting job if we think that not only the method used to create such a store is awesome and demonstrates the potential of container architecture, bu also the whole design is captivating, inside and outside.
Photos: © Danny Bright and LOT-EK.