Mobile Shipping Container Studio by LOT-EK Takes Over the Whitney Museum Sculpture Court

As the Whitney Museum <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/whitney-museum-breaks-ground-on-new-leed-seeking-high-line-building/" target="_blank">prepares to move its headquarters downtown</a>, the <a href="http://whitney.org/">Upper East Side building</a> is still making waves. A pop-up shipping container studio, designed by <a href="http://www.lot-ek.com/" target="_blank">LOT-EK</a>, is invading the Sculpture Court that runs along the front of the museum. The mobile cube, called The Whitney Studio, will host a program of events throughout the spring and summer of 2012.

Constructed from six <a href="http://inhabitat.com/sugoroku-office-is-a-temporary-playful-stack-of-shipping-containers-in-japan/" target="_blank">disused shipping containers</a>, the Whitney Studio will bring 472 square feet of space for unique education programs.

Adults, teens, and children from the community will be able to participate in studio demonstrations, classes, and creative workshops.

Upon completion of these programs, the shipping container cube will function as an exhibition space to show the works made during the courses.

Stacked atop each other into two levels, the steel <a href="http://inhabitat.com/golany-architects-turns-a-shipping-container-into-a-two-tree-house/" target="_blank">shipping containers</a> form one single cube. To add design aesthetic, and to allow natural light to pass into the structure, a window was cut away in a diagonal stripe.

Yellow glazed glass was fitted into the window stripe, which contrasts with the exterior of the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/mobile-growtainers-provide-controlled-environments-for-farming-in-shipping-containers/" target="_blank">shipping containers</a>, which were painted black.

The Sculpture Court along the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/whitney-museum-breaks-ground-on-new-leed-seeking-high-line-building/" target="_blank">Whitney Museum</a>'s Madison Avenue façade is sunken one story below street level, connecting the gift shop and restaurant with the outdoor courtyard. In the past, it has been home to other art installations, but this will be the first architectural infusion into the court. The flexible space will give the Whitney a venue for experimental and educational program, with emphasis on creating art, rather than just exhibiting it. The Whitney Studio, which is currently being installed, coincides with the 2012 Whitney Biennial.