Marc Woodcock

Greensboro, NC USA

Project Description:

What is a shipping container without an infrastructure?

What is architecture without a social context?

These are important questions that drove the development of this project. Shipping containers exist because there is a complex infrastructure that allows them to enter every corner of the globe. Digital technology has allowed our society to contribute seamlessly both economically and socially from every corner of the globe. It is hard to believe that the association between the transportability of freight containers and the contemporary digital lifestyle has hardly been investigated.

This project is a host building which allows the network of occupied shipping containers to plug-in and function as it’s intended programmed space. Whether it is the home for a single mother, the office of a businessman, the studio for an artist, or the shop for a chocolatier, the system allows users to fulfill their desires while creating a relationship between them that is not based on class, race, or lifestyle but rather on the commonality that they can benefit from the network. This is truly a mixed-use, multi-person building that supports our digital society in a context of the industrial urban environment.

The site in Newark is ideal for this project because of its connectivity to existing physical networks; creating connections for the users to urban centers surrounding the city. Newark would become a hub in the architectural system because of its proximity to the supply of shipping containers.