Cargotecture Shipping container design professionals
Last updated 01/11/16
Our Mission Established in 2008, Cargotecture is a design and architecture studio, based in Melbourne. We repurpose shipping containers, creating residential and commercial buildings for clients Australia wide. It is estimated that of the 17 million shipping containers in existence, only 5 - 6 million are being used for their intended purpose, leaving approximately 11 million containers with no purpose (Berigan, 2016). Used containers are often extremely cheap to purchase and make an ideal core for creative constructions. Tired of seeing so much waste, we have made it our mission to find new and interesting ways to repurpose containers, converting them into dream homes, quirky offices & studios, hip cafes & restaurants and cool pop-up shops. If you dare to dream it, our team of architects and designers will make it their mission to work with you to turn your desires into a reality. We pride ourselves on delivering high quality, sustainable, cost efficient buildings for people who share our love of repurposing.
Our Design Team Cargotecture was established by architects Mattias Andersson and Christian Hanson. They have a working relationship that spans twenty years and have won awards for creative sustainable designs in both, Australia and Sweden. The team also consists of a third architect, Lauren Martin, who has ten years experience in residential and commercial architecture and has won awards for her creativity in modular design. There are two Interior Architects, a design consultant/furniture designer and a documentation consultant, who through the use of expert 3D computer modeling skills, brings the projects to life, allowing clients a full understanding of the end result, in the design phase.
Contact us
Phone: (03) 9853 6242 Email: design@cargotecture.com.au or via our website at: www.cargotecture.com.au
We specialise in... ...Creating beautiful habitable spaces for a variety of purposes. These purposes include, but are not limited to: Residential design - Permanent homes - Holiday homes - Granny flats - Teenage retreats Retail and hospitality design - Pop up shops - Bars/Cafes - Restaurants - Retail fit outs Mobile Design - food/coffee trucks - market Stalls - Festival stalls/bars Artistic Design - Music Studios - Artist Studios Our designs are bought to life through a prefabricated process, saving on costs and allowing year round construction, irrespective of weather conditions. This ensures we are able to offer realistic, speedy time frames from concept to completion. Once constructed our buildings are transported to site for prompt assembly. Our designs don’t stop at repurposing containers. We also use a sustainable approach in fitting out our spaces, by restoring furniture and fixtures that have been rescued from properties slated for demolition and incorporating them into our designs.
In spite of its shipping container structure, this award winning home sits beautifully amongst the stylish houses along Perth’s shoreline. The modern home is ‘off grid’, with the design allowing the home to be passively heated and cooled, except in extreme weather conditions. It uses reclaimed timber, a sustainable water system and solar panels to supply what little electricity is required.
Key Projects
Residential Design Perth Beach Boxes
Our Macedon Ranges Home clients requested, a “burst of sunshine” for their shipping container home which is perched atop a peak in the ranges. The design utilised two shipping containers joined together, with many of the interior walls removed creating a large open-plan space. The predominately bright orange exterior is of course, the “burst of sunshine”.
Key Projects
Residential Design Macedon Ranges Home
High set windows extend almost the length of the container, assisting with natural ventilation, allowing the home to passively heat and cool for the majority of the year. This keeps costs for artificial heating and cooling low and helps keep the buildings carbon footprint to a minimum.
Key Projects
Residential Design Macedon Ranges Home
Key Projects
Residential Design Rural Beach House
The Rural Beach House was designed and built to create a relaxing environment for a doctor / lawyer couple, from Melbourne, to escape their fast-paced city lives and enjoy some R&R. Given the clients fast-paced lives, a key factor in this design was creating a place that would be secure when not in use. The central element of the home is an open living area that stretches onto expansive deck spaces. When not in use, the decks fold up to create a fully-enclosed, secure box. Using an application, smart design technology allows the decks to be lowered on approach. A fantastic view ready and waiting!
Key Projects
Residential Design Rural Beach House
Key Projects
Artist Studio
McKenna Small Home & Studio
McKenna Small Home & Studio contrasts an industrial exterior, with the beautiful rainforest area it sits amongst, within the Danenong Ranges. A raised roof with high-set windows allows light to fill the living / studio areas, while white walls provide a blank canvas for a combination of the artists own work and work of artists they admire. The coffee table uses upcycled materials, handcrafted by a friend of the client, while the chairs are our restorations, they originally sat in the owners grandparents home. Minimalist furnishings and a neutral colour palette allow a genuine connection between the interiors and exteriors, making it the ideal space to draw inspiration and create.
Key Projects
Artist Studio
McKenna Small Home & Studio
A modern day cubbyhouse for the more grown-up kids. This client had large backyard that since the kids have grown, had become a relatively unused space. This teenage retreat is situated in the leafiest area of the yard and provides a place for the kids to study or relax, away from the rest of the family. It is a simplistic design that uses recycled timbers for the joinery. The windows/doors are reclaimed from a school site that was being demolished, making it an incredibly low cost build.
Key Projects
Teenage Retreat Ivanhoe Cubby
Built from 8 shipping containers this restaurant brightens up the Mornington Peninsula. Joining the containers, we removed and relocated internal walls, to create a mixture of vibrant social spaces where people can choose to mingle, or enjoy more intimate spaces. The majority of furnishings were designed and made by Cargotecture, using reclaimed materials.
Key Projects
Retail and Hospitality Design Peninsula Bar & Restaurant
Shipping containers provide secure housings for bars and cafes, that can be completely closed up when not in use and can even be moved from one location to another if desired. This design has walls that fold down on three of the four sides, creating deck space for dining. It has a movable counter for layout flexibility, providing extra internal room once open.
Key Projects
Retail and Hospitality Design Dockside Pop-up Cafe
Stylish, yet cost effective! Reclaimed timbers and light fittings sourced from an abandoned industrial warehouse help to create an earthy escape for shoppers amidst the hyper activity of Melbourne’s QV.
Key Projects
Retail and Hospitality Design QV Coffee Shop
Shipping containers can enhance the vibe of markets and festivals, creating an energetic, lively aesthetic, while being a cost effective way of creating permanent or temporary cafes, or stalls. Our designs can be created on wheels, for your own transportation or we can deliver and install on site. We also create furniture from reclaimed pallets, designed to meet the variation of needs specific to each of our clients.
Key Projects
Retail and Hospitality Design
Mobile, Market & Festival Design
Some of our simplest yet most rewarding projects have come from clients who have wanted to go out on a limb to revive their business. Unable to keep up the overheads of his Carlton Pizza Shop, this client took his business to the streets. We designed this shipping container to attach to his truck, gave it a rustic overhaul and installed the same pizza oven that has been in his family for generations. This project represents the heart of Cargotecture and our love of repurposing.
Key Projects
Retail and Hospitality Design Mobile Wood-fired pizza truck
References Berigan, B. (2016). Shipping Containers: The cheapest and coolest way to build your home. Retrieved from https://steemit.com/craigrant/@benjiberigan/magical-shipping-containers-the-cheapest-and-coolestway-to-build-your-home Images Front cover: Containers of hope [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://cdn2.ubergizmo.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/containers-of-hope-1.jpg Our Mission image: Sydney Morning Herald, How Dan Andrews and Transurban are stuffing up Melbourne’s inner west [Image]. (25/01/16). Retrieved from http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/p/6/x/n/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gmbv9o.png/1453804685498.jpg Esty, Recycling the Shipping Container [Image]. (07/09/11). Retrieved from https://blog.etsy.com/en/files/2011/09/Shippingcontainer.jpg Our Team images: Bag of Bees, About bag of Bees [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.bagofbees.co.uk/wp-content/themes/bob/style/images/studiopic.jpg By talking [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.bytalking.com/ftp/talking/team_talking_design_studio.jpg Macedon Ranges Home Images: Benjamin Garcia Saxe, Containers of Hope [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.benjamingarciasaxe.com/containers-of-hope/ Perth Beach Boxes images: Premier Box, Shipping Container House Wins Major Architecture Award - Sunshine Coast [Image]. (29/04/14). Retrieved from http://premiershippingcontainers.com.au/shipping-container-house-wins-major-architecture-award-sunshine-coast.html Rural beach house images: Container-like Bach in Coromandel [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.home-designing.com/2012/04/container-like-bach-in-coromandel Small Home & Studio images: Small house bliss small house designs with big impact: The Savannah project, an artist’s container home and studio [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://smallhousebliss. com/2013/08/01/savannah-project-a-container-house-by-julio-garciaP Teenage retreat image: Resumee: Home container in Port Bach [Image]. (12/01/16). Retrieved from http://resumee.net/home-container/home-container-in-port-a-bach-container-house-tiny-house-swoon/ Peninsula Restaurant images: Inhabitat [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://inhabitat.com/inhabitat-tests-out-londons-wahaca-restaurant-made-from-8-shipping-containers/wahaca-cargo-restaurant1/ Dockside pop-up cafe images: Pintrest [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/5d/9b/66/5d9b660d3d98c12da031eaa10be5ec7f.jpg Yadokary [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://yadokari.net/minimal-life/4317/ Conteneur-restaurant - Du cochon en boîte [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ledevoir.com/plaisirs/alimentation/353392/du-cochon-en-boite QV Coffee Shop: In Design Live, Interactive Retail Experience [Image]. (22/05/13). Retrieved from http://www.indesignlive.com/articles/projects/interactive-retail-experience Woodfired Pizza Truck: psfk, Shipping Container Gets Converted Into A Wood-Fired Pizza Oven Food Truck [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://cdn.psfk.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Del_Popolo_3.jpg psfk, Shipping Container Gets Converted Into A Wood-Fired Pizza Oven Food Truck [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.psfk.com/2012/07/shipping-container-gets-converted-into-a-wood-fired-pizza-ovenfood-truck.html Mobile, Market & Festival Design images: Design Boom [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.designboom.com/weblog/images/images_2/2011/jenny/wahaca-southbank-experiment/wahaca11r.jpg Pintrest, [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/50/c5/01/50c501eca8a010630ade4759831e3ad3.jpg Pintrest, [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/6e/47/7f/6e477fd4493075eb13313284648de78b.jpg Inhabitat, Abandoned island reborn as a shipping container street food mecca in Copenhagen [Image]. (27/09/15). Retrieved from http://inhabitat.com/abandoned-island-reborn-as-a-shipping-container-streetfood-mecca-in-copenhagen/copenhagen-street-food-fresh-juice-bar Inhabitat, Abandoned island reborn as a shipping container street food mecca in Copenhagen [Image]. (27/09/15). Retrieved from http://assets.inhabitat.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2015/09/Copenhagen-Street-Food-Entrance-Area.jpg