Joe To Go

From our offices overlooking one of Charleston’s port facilities we watch shipping containers come and go all day long….off the ships, into stacks, onto trains and trucks, and then all over again. It’s like watching an army of ants work a picnic spread….and the sheer number of metal container boxes is mind boggling. There’s growing interest in adaptive uses for these boxes….(here in town the American College of the Building Arts used them to store tools in its Navy Yard school facility).

Here’s a cool use from illy…the Italian coffee brand. This holiday season if you find yourself in New York and exhausted from the cheer of it all you can stop by illy’s temporary Push Button House cafe at Time Warner Center for an expresso fix.

With the push of a button, the container house opens in 90 seconds and transforms into a fully furnished and functional space with a kitchen, dining room, bathroom, bedroom, living room and library. All materials used in the Biennale house were recyclable or recycled. A tasty blend of sustainable design and pop up retail.