In a different take on shipping container student housing from Christian Salvati's work in Connecticut, a new student development has just opened to tenants in South Africa.
In less than a year, developer Cintiq built a 15-story structure, using pre-existing concrete grain silos and shipping containers. Mill Junction will house 370 Johnnesburg students, providing rooftop decks and free WiFi.
Gizmodo reports that the basis of the structure, the approximately 50-year-old silos, sat empty for years. They were retrofitted with floors, dorm rooms, and windows as a part of the process. The development is also wheelchair accessible reports The Citizen.
A massive crane lifted the shipping containers onto the silos, and the final step was to decorate the containers' interior.
Balanced on 50-year-old silos, the shipping containers are actually wheelchair accessible.
Windows had to be cut out of the thick concrete of the silos.
The shipping containers were lifted on to the silos with a crane.
Rooftop balconies are a feature of the development.
The shipping containers were fitted out with new paint and interiors as a final step before habitation.
Related Stories
Industry Research | Jan 23, 2024
Leading economists forecast 4% growth in construction spending for nonresidential buildings in 2024
Spending on nonresidential buildings will see a modest 4% increase in 2024, after increasing by more than 20% last year according to The American Institute of Architects’ latest Consensus Construction Forecast. The pace will slow to just over 1% growth in 2025, a marked difference from the strong performance in 2023.
Giants 400 | Jan 23, 2024
Top 110 Medical Office Building Architecture Firms for 2023
SmithGroup, CannonDesign, E4H Environments for Health Architecture, and Perkins Eastman top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest medical office building architecture and architecture engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in the 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Jan 22, 2024
Top 100 Outpatient Facility Architecture Firms for 2023
HDR, CannonDesign, Stantec, Perkins&Will, and ZGF top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest outpatient facility architecture and architecture engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in the 2023 Giants 400 Report. Note: This ranking includes design revenue for work related to outpatient medical buildings, including cancer centers, heart centers, urgent care facilities, and other medical centers.
Construction Costs | Jan 22, 2024
Construction material prices continue to normalize despite ongoing challenges
Gordian’s most recent Quarterly Construction Cost Insights Report for Q4 2023 describes an industry still attempting to recover from the impact of COVID. This was complicated by inflation, weather, and geopolitical factors that resulted in widespread pricing adjustments throughout the construction materials industries.
Transit Facilities | Jan 22, 2024
Top 40 Transit Facility Architecture Firms for 2023
Perkins&Will, HDR, Gensler, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, and HNTB top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest transit facility architecture and architecture engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in the 2023 Giants 400 Report. Note: This ranking includes design revenue for work related to bus terminals, rail terminals, and transit stations.
Hotel Facilities | Jan 22, 2024
U.S. hotel construction is booming, with a record-high 5,964 projects in the pipeline
The hotel construction pipeline hit record project counts at Q4, with the addition of 260 projects and 21,287 rooms over last quarter, according to Lodging Econometrics.
Modular Building | Jan 19, 2024
Virginia is first state to adopt ICC/MBI offsite construction standards
Virginia recently became the first state to adopt International Code Council/Modular Building Institute off-site construction standards.
Office Buildings | Jan 19, 2024
How to strengthen office design as employees return to work
Adam James, AIA, Senior Architect, Design Collaborative, shares office design tips for the increasingly dynamic workplace.
Modular Building | Jan 19, 2024
Building with shipping containers not as eco-friendly as it seems
With millions of shipping containers lying empty at ports around the world, it may seem like repurposing them to construct buildings would be a clear environmental winner. The reality of building with shipping containers is complicated, though, and in many cases isn’t a net-positive for the environment, critics charge, according to a report by NPR's Chloe Veltman.
Adaptive Reuse | Jan 18, 2024
Coca-Cola packaging warehouse transformed into mixed-use complex
The 250,000-sf structure is located along a now defunct railroad line that forms the footprint for the city’s multi-phase Beltline pedestrian/bike path that will eventually loop around the city.
