The box

Shipping containers are the most conspicuous symbol of the globalized world economy : 20 or 40 feet of pure steel reduced to the essentials. Their qualities make them increasingly popular among architects around the world. As robust, inexpensive and universally available standardized modules, they fill the smallest building plots, house temporary cultural institutions, or serve as individual modules for complex building structures.

The « boxes » can be stacked, cut open, and linked, integrated into existing architecture, or incorporated into the interior design. This results in sophisticated design concepts and well-thought-out functional solutions. The projects selected for this volume reflect the great variety of the still young container architecture sector and show the enormous creative potential inherent in this universal construction element.