It has been a bit quiet on the blog front lately. Not through lack of things to do, but in fact that we haven’t really been home that much lately.
I have plenty of movies to catch you all up on but just seem to be enjoying the extra few days of sunshine that have been provided to us lately. I believe this now brings it up to a grand total of 15 (spectacular) sunny days for summer this year!
Those of you that know me well may be aware of my long held fascination to build with strawbale. Over the last couple of years my awareness of another interesting building practice has developed – shipping containers. What this results in is a continual learning process in trying to merge these two passions together.
When the London Open Day occurred and I heard that Trinity Buoy Wharf was on the list I had to be there to see container city which has been developed in this area. This has been high on my list of sites to visit should it be possible. It turns out that Trinity Buoy Wharf is open all the time as it is a home for artists studios and their businesses which are open for entry to their customers during normal business hours.
So after driving down to Kew, taking the train into the city, catching the Docklands Light Rail then walking about 2 miles we finally arrived at midday. It was a rather long trek but well worth it.
They have developed the container city in 3 stages which clearly shows the design changes they went through as they improved from experience.
The first stage was the stock standard shipping container, stacked one on one. The doors have been left rough and ready and just welded open to help create the balcony. This design is meant to show the raw concept with no attempt at hiding what they are.
The second stage was where the design firm decided to get a bit more funky, stacking at different angles, use of vibrant colours (a bit garish in my opinion for everyday living) and with this build there was greater structural requirements needed. It was stated during the day that this was a very difficult build with all the angles as it made putting the internal services in (i.e. water, electricity) very difficult. The person providing information on the site said that given the choice again, they wouldn’t repeat this design.
The third build they are up to looks fantastic however it hasn’t really left a lot of obvious traces to show the shipping containers. They have removed the container doors, put on verandahs that run around the front and interior of the buildings. It does look fabulous but I think it is starting to look too mainstream, too generic. We have plenty of these non-descript, bland buildings already available.
