CARGOTECTURE: THE MODULAR EVOLUTION OF ARCHITECTURE

In connection with the global challenges that arise humanity in the 21st century, humanity continues to look for ways to reduce the costs of building housing and sub-housing. As an alternative option, more and more often standard sea containers are used, suitable for both permanent and temporary accommodation. The material of the article provides experience and general characteristics of housing from sea containers and its construction. Over the past two decades, the trade imbalance between Asia and Europe on one side and North America on the other has been the main cause of the abundance and relative cheapness of shipping containers (SCs), as such containers carry manufactured goods to North America from Asia and, to a lesser extent, from Europe. Instead of ship empty containers back to Asia and Europe at considerable expense, manufacturing new containers is considered more economic. Once these containers have served their purpose, they are thus stored at seaports in large numbers before they are recycled as scrap or reused as spatial modules in architecture. The Reuse of SCs for architectural purposes is not limited to certain types of buildings but extends from small private homes to skyscrapers. SCs offer infinite possible assemblies based on their modularity and are used for all types of buildings, social, domestic, and commercial. The SC goes a step further compared to traditional masonry, with longer cantilevers originating from its structural composition. As a relatively untapped trend, SCs can be slotted into a structure, and this integration creates a new symbiosis. In this article, based on an analysis of world experience, the prospects for building from sea containers are presented. The advantages and disadvantages, as well as the features of such buildings and structures are considered. The container specifies a specific module that imposes a restriction on the construction. But even so, the world resource of this material for creativity and construction is practically unlimited. One factor that has made it easier for the architecture and construction industry to accept the container as a building element is the fact that millions of containers are decommissioned every year. The balance of trade in many Western countries, which import more goods than they export, means that many containers remain in warehouses and are not used. Cost savings and space savings are also an advantage of the new approach.