Shipping Container Homes & Buildings: Small Shipping Container Office and Gallery, Taito, Japan

Small Shipping Container Office and Gallery, Taito, Japan

Drawings

About Tomokazu Hayakawa Architects

Project: CC4441
Architects: Tomokazu Hayakawa Architects
Containers: 2x40 ft
Location: Taito, Japan
Structural Engineer: Ejiri Structural Engineers
Construction: C3 design
Year: 2014
Photos: Kuniaki Sasage

Description by architects

This site is located in Torigoe which is between Asakusa and Akihabara. Here is the center of the old city; there are many small factories for leather, paper craft, and ornament products. The client wanted a small office for himself and a small gallery for his wife.

We imagine that second hand containers can be put in this area, thinking that a used container could be installed among these small factories.

The direction of the doors was carefully planned and we and stacked two 40 ft containers. The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) shipping containers that circulate widely in the world cannot be used as the main structure; Because the Japanese Construction Standards Law requires JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards) materials for the structure.

Therefore, like for other non-art spaces and temporary shelter for disasters, the architects chose the container house with a steel exterior frame to support the containers. This solution conforms to JIS within the Japanese Building Standards Law .

In this project, to save the appearance of the shipping container, a wooden frame has been built inside, and the surface of the shipping container was treated as facade, and wood as an inside structure.