Shipping container pop-up malls! NO?!?!
Yes! Believe it or not people ARE starting to think outside the box or in this case inside it!
After a few single stores across the world used shipping containers, the idea then morphed and moved to London with the opening of Boxpark Shoreditch, London’s first pop-up shopping mall made completely from shipping containers.
Boxpark Shoreditch - Image Ravi Sidhu
It then appeared as a brilliant idea to help a city move forward after the Christchurch earthquake as part of the City Mall Re:START project, with 27 stores in brightly coloured boxes.
Cashel Mall - Image NZ Raw
Cashel Mall - Image NZ Raw
Not only are these type of malls cheaper to put together, they can also utilise thin and strangely shaped pieces of land. In the case of Christchurch, it meant that businesses and the city could move towards getting “back to normal” without waiting for lengthy construction. They also get increased traffic from tourists curious to see how it’s all done.
Architectural firm LOT-EK in the US is now also putting plans together for a 9 story shipping container mall on the corner of 42nd Street and 5th Avenue, New York!
Artists impression of the proposed LOT-EK Shipping Container Mall NYC
Brilliant! I’m particularly inspired by how this was used in Christchurch. Great post, Yvonne.