Over the past two years there has been a growth in the use of recycled shipping containers for commercial and community projects. Whilst we were working on the ViewTube project at the Olympic park in London. New projects appeared in London, Las Vegas and New York.
The Las Vegas project is particularly interesting, part of the wider Downtown project in the city the ‘Box Park’ is part of a move to make Las Vegas the shipping container conversion capital of the world.
What makes the Las Vegas project really exciting is the committed group of people behind it, the team has partnered with engineering and design professionals.
The project will ultimately provide a flexible commercial space which can be themed and reset as required. The container park will provide a space where new business ideas can be tested.
Not much technical information is available about the project yet. But Las Vegas could become a blueprint for how under utilised urban spaces can be made commercially viable again.
The flexibility of shipping containers means that it is possible that the park could be moved to new locations. Each time showcasing new small businesses and ideas. The container park is being organised by the Downtown project a community business action group which helps creates jobs and small business opportunities in Las Vegas.
The park will in fact be a hybrid of recycled shipping containers and purpose built structures provided by a Las Vegas based manufacturer.
The potential of the container park to make a lasting economic impact in Las Vegas is massive, working not only as a community centre and attraction bringing visitors in. But also as a seed camp for new businesses providing low cost premises for start up’s.
When creating a project on this scale planning is vital and so is great technical execution of the idea. Currently we are working on a series of commercial container conversions including mobile displays for brands.
Container conversions provide flexible and durable structures, which can quickly be re purposed. Keep watching developments in Las Vegas as the project moves forward.