Shipping container ship terminal completed in Spain

In Seville, Spain, architectural firms Hombre de Piedra and Buró4 have designed and completed a cruise ship terminal out of used shipping containers. The 5,468 square-foot terminal is comprised of 23 containers in all, and the containers had made about 29 trips around the world before being repurposed, Jetson Green reports.

Because 15 days is the maximum amount of time between cruise ship arrivals at the dock, builders only had that long to create this new shipping terminal. The shipping containers had been precut offsite, and were ready to be stacked upon arrival at the site. They have been used to create a two-story structure and placed parallel to each other, separated in most places by one container width. Where containers are stacked on top of each other, the bottom container has a double-height ceiling.

All of the containers have been painted with a special white paint in order to reflect as much solar heat as possible; this paint, the designers say, can reflect up to 90% of solar radiation. To help the terminal stay cool, large windows have been cut into the containers to create a cross breeze.

Not only will this space be an area for ships to dock, it will also be used for shows and exhibitions. Check out other shipping container projects here: student housing in South Africa and a hotel in Hong Kong. All photos courtesy of Jetson Green.

Founded in 2009 with an initial endowment of $1.9 million, HMC’s nonprofit Designing Futures Foundation (DFF) has donated about $230,000 in its three years of existence, including $105,000 in scholarships to California students. The grants help promising high schoolers with an interest in architecture, design, engineering, education, or healthcare pay for expenses like test preparation services, computers, and college entrance exam fees and tuition. The scholarships can be extended for up to five years of college.