Josef Vodicka – Containers Architercture

Container Architecture

Preface: Hello, my name is Josef Vodicka, and this portfolio is called Container Architecture. I will be using licensing CC BY 4.0

Themes: In my portfolio, I will be focusing on two main themes. Firstly, I will show and describe to you the most interesting structures made from containers in connection with the environment. I will briefly tell you something about their existence, why were they build, and what their purpose is. Secondly, I want to focus on the reason why anyone created something like this in. In addition, why do people visit these places even when they would be able to effort something better or more expensive.

Experience: I had the opportunity to stay in one of these houses while I was in Bali. From my own experience, no one can complain about it because inside it looks exactly like a regular house, and I believe that it also looks cool from the outside. Moreover, as I maintained, these houses are sometimes bought by poor people in Europe who cannot afford a house or flat, and they buy this container as a place to stay for less money. However, there is a difference between homes that are accepted for its price and then those which are built to show impressive architecture.

Analysis

The picture  is taken in London in a place named “Container City.”There are two parts to the container city. However, “Container City 2” is newer than “Container City 1”. The complex has 5 floors and it was built in 2002. This is an excellent example that even in modern cities, such as London is, people can help the environment.

Almost half of the building works as offices for companies that do not have enough money to rent a regular office. The rest of the buildings are flats which are occupated mostly by tourists who are renting these flats for vacation, but there are also a few people who live there. It did not only save money for the creators but it also saved money of many people who cannot offer something more expensive. However, the most important thing, it saved the environment! On the other hand, tourists are not visiting the “Container City” to save money but to see and enjoy the unique architecture even from inside. Moreover, some of them want to support this project and the way that creators were thinking when they created something like this. In the end, I just want to say that many people prefer trying something new and in this case, they support the global environment, which is great!

This second architecture is located in Le Havre harbor. It is called “Catène De Containers,”, in English Container Catena, built-in 2017 by Catala architect Vincent Ganivet. It weighs around 288 tonnes and the highest container is 28.5 meters above the ground. Containers are painted with seven colors. Ganivet took a container from a place where old unused containers are stored in France and he used them this way.

This art made this part of France more famous for tourists who wanted to see this monument. I did not have the opportunity to see this in real life, but even from the picture, it makes me feel that this art is shinning positive energy even on foggy days. It does not bring only tourists from all around the world but it also brings a lot of money to local city which now can grow and they can support more creators like Ganivet. I believe that something brilliant and unique like this, is another perfect way to help the world with rubbish.

In the last picture, I would like to present that even big brands like Starbucks use containers to help the world and create a cool building where people can buy a coffee or grab a snack. This was build in Seattle, Washington, in 2012. It was a reaction to the US generation of trash and things that were not able to recycle. In the years 2011 and 2012, US citizens generated more than 500 million tons of trash. Starbucks became one of the first which tried to help in this case and they started their new path. Starbuck, in this case, does not even think about a cool design, but they are doing it for the environment. It’s not about the containers, but they also reduced water consumption, and they are trying to avoid waste of food, coffee, or tea.

It is said that people do not use Starbuck because of its look, but they just want to grab a cup of coffee. However, this Starbucks has the biggest amount of visitors in Washington, so, maybe there is some uniqueness. People might enjoy supporting a good thing or they just love the building design. Nevertheless, if Starbucks was able to connect a nice look with something that helps the environment, it is the best thing they could do. I respect that company like them made this move and if more companies will join them in the future, it will be excellent.

Application

Recycling is a very important thing and not just in case to divide plastics, glass, or paper. There are many other ways that people can help the planet. Because I am one of those who are trying a lot I believe that everyone can change it. Directly to recycling and architecture. There many other monuments or things that are created from recycled material, such as, plastics figures, new glass bottles, or newspapers. The topic I chose is not that known and I wanted people to know about this way of help. There are millions of tons of unused containers all around the world because people are just focusing on the development of new, lighter, or bigger ones. However, this problematics is not only in this case. For example, there are also around 1.5 billion unused phones which will not be used anymore because they are just old. I believe that if anyone can use a thing which will not be used anymore, it is always a good idea. Using containers as a place to live is a great solution and if there is anyone who would be able to bring this in poor countries, where people do not even have a space to live, it could change a lot of things. I believe that it is just a question of time when someone will do this, and I hope it will be soon.