This Brooklin, Maine home, designed by architect Adam Kalkin, may not be brand new to the green scene (it was built in 2003), but its unique design still looks so fresh today that I had to write about it.  The beautiful home stretches the boundaries of modern design and is truly a work of art.  It was created by stacking a dozen orange "reclaimed" shipping containers in a T-shape while replacing some of the steel pannels with large windows looking out over the rocky peninsula to Blue Hill Bay. 

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Update 6/15/2010: Puma City Revised for World Cup 2010!

Realizing this site might be a little overweight in the container architecture department, I'm going to blog this and try to abstain in the next few weeks.  But Puma City, like the Freitag Flagship Store in Zurich (only less banged up looking), is another illustration of industrial design and adaptive reuse combined. The 11,000 sf retail installation was designed by LOT-EK and uses three levels of forty-foot containers stacked four units wide to create an incredibly dynamic design. 

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The Greentainer Project in Gandino, Italy is yet another expression of container architecture, albeit this time it’s for a more whimsical application.  The project used one, standard-sized, 40-foot container and transformed it into a structure that’s mobile, flexible, and self-sufficient.  In its current form, Greentainer is perfect for multiple uses and almost infinite locations, plus the rooftop solar panels provide all the energy necessary to run the heating and cooling system, lights, and other devices.  So you could potentially use it for a party, event, grand opening, art show, or any other scheme you can come up with. 

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A combination of various groups, including AIA Newark, Skanska, and Young Architects Forum, put together the Live The BOX competition to find innovative, visionary, and compelling proposals for container constructed, multifamily, mixed- use projects.  The competition received tons of interesting container design entries, but only three won (with three more Honorable Mentions).  Designs had to use standard shipping containers of 8′-6" height and either 20′ or 40′ length as main building blocks for the structure.  Make sure to check out the winners below … Also, I’ll update this article as I find better images. 

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Yesterday the EPA announced winners of the second annual green building competition known as the Lifecycle Building Challenge, or LBC2.  The challege issued a proposal for designs and ideas that support cost-effective disassembly and that anticipate future use of building materials.  It was open to architects, reuse experts, engineers, designers, planners, contractors, builders, educators, environmental advocates, and students in three main categories: (1) Building, (2) Innovation, and (3) Outstanding Achievement Awards.  The winners have been selected and listed below with a quick image.  There’s seriously some excellent thinking at work here, so congratulations to everyone …

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