Lego Style Shipping Container Skyscraper Inspired by Mondrian

What if <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/index.php?s=skyscraper">skyscrapers</a> could adapt and change shape almost as easily as a stack of <a href="http://inhabitat.com/index.php?s=legos">Legos</a> could? Kok Keong Tew &amp; Linshou Wang explore that possibility with their design entitled the <a href="http://www.ctbuh.org/Research/DesignResearch/Nottingham/20092010ClimateCultureContext/DesignResponses/AdaptableTower/tabid/1660/language/en-US/Default.aspx">Adaptable Tower</a>. Consisting of a steel mega frame structure with slots that can be filled in with shipping containers, the yellow, red, blue and black building was inspired by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Mondrian">Mondrian </a>and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Stijl">Dutch De Stijl</a> movement. Envisioned for Rotterdam, the modular tower would be almost completely adaptable over its lifetime and able to change function, density and even height if required. Click through our slideshow to check out some of the really innovative ideas that the designers have injected into the design - such as terraces that can be created simply by pushing the containers further out from the frame, a sky lobby that straddles the underground metro stop and predictions of what the tower will look like in the future.

Since <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/index.php?s=rotterdam">Rotterdam</a> has a rather vast container port, sourcing the modular elements for the <a href="http://www.ctbuh.org/Research/DesignResearch/Nottingham/20092010ClimateCultureContext/DesignResponses/AdaptableTower/tabid/1660/language/en-US/Default.aspx">Adaptable Tower</a> would be made even more sustainable since the containers would not have to be trucked from afar.

The containers could be removed, extended and rearranged within the mega frame to cater to changes such as fluctuations in market forces, different types of families moving into the area, etc.

It would also allow residents to enlarge their apartments to accommodate larger families by extending their homes into vacant grids instead of having to move to the suburbs.

The lower floors of the tower house a basketball court, communal areas and a sky lobby.

And as if all of the adaptability of the building isn't convenient enough as it is, the four legs of the mega-frame straddle the underground <a href="http://inhabitat.com/2010/09/07/body-heat-from-paris-metro-to-heat-residential-building/">metro</a> line below, meaning that getting to the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/index.php?s=metro+station">station</a> platform would just be a matter of going downstairs.

The basic layout of the Adaptable Tower.

A plan of the sky lobby.

The designers even predict how they think the scraper will look in years to come.

A model of the lego-esque tower.