Refurbished shipping containers aren’t just useful for clever economical housing anymore. Like London subway car architecure and the Greentainer Design Project, this design concept makes public space more flexible and eco-friendly by re-using discarded material that is easily moved. This tri-level, 11,000-square-foot Puma store, known as Puma City, is made of 24 refurbished shipping containers and is fully dis-mountable so it can be packed up and shipped anywhere. Currently traveling around the world, the store was designed by our favorite shipping container architects LOT-EK and completed in September 2008.
With a painted logo on the outside and complete renovation on the inside, the shipping containers’ past life is well-disguised. While the structure of the shipping containers is evident in the multiple frames created by the knocking down of the shipping containers’ walls, the open and well-lit environment makes the industrial aesthetic seem almost intentional. Additionally, built-in details, such as the two decks located on the upper floors and recessed lighting, gives the store a greater sense a permanence and less like a prefabricated structure that can simply be folded up and moved.
The store is actually not the first example of Puma’s efforts in mass customization in its retail stores. We covered Puma’s store opening in 2006 in New York City’s Union Square. Back then, the athletic brand was able to set the entire store up in less than a week thanks to the fold-out capabilities of container architecture.
+ LOT-EK LOT-EK Video on Inhabitat >
via Treehugger and Jetson Green
Images courtesy of Danny Bright and LOT-EK
