Recycle, Re-use, Re-purpose

There are nearly 30 million shipping containers in use in the world today. Over a million of them are replaced each year by the shipping industry. A standard 20 foot unit contains about 5000 pounds of rust-proof Corten steel, so it’s not going to just disintegrate, even after spending years exposed to the elements.

Around the time that Clive Wilkinson & Associates created their award-winning office space for Pallotta Teamworks, I became fascinated with the possible uses of recycled shipping containers. Here was an opportunity to really demonstrate recycling and sustainability by giving new life these retired containers in new applications.

Our plan is to demonstrate some potential uses for these containers as retail spaces, offices, and more. We chose three 20 foot standard containers and had one side cut out to allow for better viewing of our experimental spaces.

Recycled shipping containers are nearly indestructible. Their Corten steel construction makes them virtually rustproof and their standardized design makes them easy to combine in many ways. Their strength makes them ideal for stacking. They can be cut, sliced, painted, and electrified.

After having our three shipping containers modified and painted, we moved them to our headquarters in Burbank, CA. The space has 30 foot ceilings, so it’s an ideal place to stack and arrange the containers to create distinctive showrooms. Later, if we want to change the configuration, we can just rearrange the containers. By re-using these containers we avoid the need to tear out building materials and send them to the landfill.