Container Buildings at Trinity Buoy Wharf, London

Every year thousands of shipping containers are discarded either because it is too expensive to ship these back to the port of origin or because of ageing they do not meet the Standards for transportation.

Being modular in shape and structurally sound, the containers offer a very flexible mean of creating work/living space. These can be easily cleaned, repainted, and insulated and stacked one over another. Designed to carry heavy loads, the stacks are very stable and the steel walls provide a high level of security. A few years ago architects started re-using these containers initially as temporary site offices and later as a more permanent office/work space and low cost housing.

One such example of buildings made of containers can be found right in heart of London's dockyard at Trinity Buoy Wharf, Leamouth. Developed by Urban Space Management Ltd, the area presently has three buildings entirely made of shipping containers;

1. Container City 1
2. Container City 2
3. The Riverside Building

Container City 1 was the original and the first container building with 80% of the building created from recycled material. It's 20 containers occupy a floor space of 4,800 sq feet and it was completed in 2001 in 5 months. It took just 4 days to assemble the entire complex, which was initially 3 stories high. Later one more stack was added providing a total of 15 work studios. It can seen in the left hand side of the ensuing image;

Container City 1 & 2 - Image from Flickr is by Fin Fahey

Container City 2, seen in the above image on the right side, was built in 2002. In the words of its developer it was "an extension as well as evolution of the first building". It used 30 containers to create 22 studios at 5 levels.

Container City 2 - Image from Flickr is by Fin Fahey

The Riverside Building is the latest addition to the complex and it is located on the banks of River Thames opposite the O2 (Millennium) dome. Completed in 2005 it used 73 containers to create 22 units spread over 5 floors.

Riverside Building - Image from Flickr is by Fin Fahey

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Source of info and more info: http://containercity.com/home.html