Introduction
Earth’s resource reserve is depleting. With alarming problems like global warming and climate change, it is imperative that we adopt a sustainable approach. The building industry alone is responsible for over 40% carbon emissions and now is the time to change that.
The world today has become aware of the reckless utilization of natural resources and is now making conscious efforts to move towards a sustainable future. Reduce, reuse and recycle have to become a universal mantra for a better future.
Architects and designers are actively adopting a greener approach towards building. One such way to do that is by recycling things around us. The Shipping Container is one such potential building material that boasts good structural quality, can be recycled easily and is universally available.
With over two million unused containers docked at ports around the world, Volume Zero Competition’s Unbox 2017 aimed to explore the prospective functionality of these as efficient structural components that aided in the creation of ingenious ideas and in reimagining sustainability.
Participants were to design a prototype of a public space using 4 shipping containers for any selected site. The design solution had to be flexible, adaptable and replicable to changing contexts and demographics.
A plethora of design entries visualized functional out-of-the-box unbox prototypes in different contexts. The most awe-striking design solutions were explored non-conventional types of public spaces.
Volume Zero thanks all the participating members and teams for their entries in the Unbox 2017 Architecture Competition!