Albert McDonald

Raleigh, NC USA

Stack + Shift is a formal result derived from its specific urban situation and the inherent qualities found in shipping containers as habitable space. 

Residences and office space are lifted off the street on a transparent base that houses dual access retail.  This allows visual and physical connections from the perimeter streets to a new public park and transit plaza associated with the Broad Street Train Station thus activating an otherwise inactive edge along the elevated tracks.  

Below-ground parking for residents and the public are linked vertically to the ground level and the building on three corners of the site.

The building holds the street edge for the first few floors and is similar in height to the sparse immediate surroundings.  Above this portion a shared roof terrace sets off the shifted portion of the building. Here the taller surrounding urban condition is addressed and views of the Passaic River and the Minor League Ball Park as well as the rest of Newark are achieved.

Two types of residential units are implemented throughout utilizing configurations of shipping containers to define their program.  Rendered in red (68) one bedroom residences composed in a stacked configuration activate the street edge with outdoor balconies.   Above the roof terrace rendered in blue (182) two bedroom residences utilize shipping containers in a shifted configuration.  In all instances the container construction becomes the center piece of each residence as well as the over all composition of the building.