An Antarctic Prefab Shows the True Potential of Shipping Containers

India’s National Center for Antarctic and Ocean Research is situated in northeast Antarctica. The Bharati Indian Polar Station is built on an 27,000 square feet area out of 134 shipping containers. The research center’s residential quarters shows almost everything that can be built out of shipping containers including an hotel of 24 single and double bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, library, fitness room, offices, a lounge and an operational theater.

There are at least two reasons why the research complex was built by using shipping containers. First, according to the Antarctic Treaty System, all the construction in the Antarctica should not leave any trace to the environment. Shipping containers make it possible to dissassemble and remove the building without causing any environmental impact.

Second, due to shipping containers’ physical properties and their durability, they are an excellent building material for extreme weather conditions. Shipping containers are designed to be shipped even in a rough weather in the world’s seas. Therefore they can even handle the wind gusts of 200 mph and the temperatures of -40 C of the Antarctica.

The shipping container complex was prefabricated in Germany and shipped to Antwerp and Cape Town. In Antarctica the research center was able to be assembled quickly. The facade of the center was designed to forestall the buildups of snow drifts.

Thanks to the German company Bof Architekten, the center can accommodate 47 researchers during summers and 24 during winters. The energy of the center is provided by a Combined Heat and Power Unit (CHP) which is powered by stockpiles of kerosene. There are actually a total of three CHP units on site, so as to ensure that an untimely mechanical failure does not leave the residents in dire straits.

Shipping containers and shipping container architecture are one of Shanghai Metal Corporation‘s largest businesses. Our containers are built to last according to international standards. In order to learn more about our products and services, please visit our websites on containers and container projects. Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Try also scanning our QR code with your smart phone, tablet or phablet.

 

#BuildingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Gizmag, Bof Architekten, Inhabitat

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A Smart Car Jumps Over a Bridge Every Day!

They have filmed some really astonishing car jump stunts in Hollywood. In real life, the jumps such as James Bond: The Man With the Golden Gun, Thelma and Louise and Terminator 2, would result in absolutely catastrophic damage. Still, there is a car that jumps over a bridge every single day.

In Rotterdam, you can see a Smart Car jumping over an elevated bridge from miles away. The thing that you will see is actually a billboard advertisement made by an advertising agency BBDO Düsseldorf to promote the sales of the Smart BRABUS car. The billboard is attached to the cutting point of the bridge, and when the bridge opens, it seems like the Smart car is jumping over the bridge.

The BRABUS campaign lead to a phenomenal success of more than 2000 cars sold before its launch. Smart car is famous also for its other creative marketing campaigns. The small size of the car has inspired its marketers to design, say, unique small size parking spaces for only smart cars a way to promote the car’s fuel efficiency (see the picture below). The Rotterdam Bridge campaign is really groundbreaking in automobile industry.

Shanghai Metal Corporation has successfully implemented some major bridge building projects. Our projects include the pedestrian bridge in Shanghai’s Wuzhou Avenue, an airport highway in Hefei city and an arch bridge in Zhejiang province’s city of Caidong.

To know more about our bridge building projects, please visit our website. Also follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. You can also download our new mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

 

SMC #BuildingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original stories:  Toxel.com, Adsoftheworld.com, Jalopnik.com

The Crate that Keeps on Giving

Forget all the things you think know about farming. If Boston natives Brad McNamara and Jon Friedman have it their way, farms may soon be moving to a city near you. In 2010 the two friends joined forces to address the inefficiencies of modern farming practices and worked to design a new and more sustainable method of growing crops. The two created a hydroponic farm that operates inside of a shipping container that can be installed in any location that has access to electricity and water. Using their new design, they founded Freight Farms, thereafter raising nearly US$31,000 through the crowd funding sight Kickstarter in order to produce the first unit.

Brad McNamara, one of the founders of freight farm.

The Freight Farm utilizes 40-foot-long shipping containers that are climate-controlled and lit by energy efficient LED lighting systems that are electronically monitored. Given its ability to grow a variety of 3,600 unique plant types, climate customization within the unit is essential. The company has created tools to monitor conditions within the container via smart phone app which updates the user with information regarding temperature and humidity within the unit.

Left side of picture: Digital control unit and monitoring system.

The prefabricated Freight Farm has the potential to be installed in a wide range of locations such as vacant lots, leased properties, or underutilized recreation centers. A crate purchaser has the ability to create a Freight Farm structure that is stacked four crates high, and eight deep. The company claims that inexperienced farmers can achieve crop yields of 60%, while some experts have experienced yields of 95%. To increase the ease of use Freight Farms has been modifying its user instructions to provide more visuals that will simplify the process for all.

Freight farm’s advanced LED lighting system.

With a starting price tag of US$60,000 per crate, and US$180,000 for a solar powered variant, the Freight Farm is still largely expensive for the average market consumer. However, the company is currently working on creating distributor sponsorship networks that will allow for new farmers to try their hand at supply crops for regional food distributors.

Shanghai Metal Corporation currently provides a variety of new shipping containers that can be custom tailored based on customer requests. We hope that inspiring design like Freight Farm will encourage all to explore their own ideas for shipping container use.

If you already have an idea, but need shipping containers check out our current offerings, click here 

To view  metal and construction products as well as SMC company information check out our website: click here

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Source: Wong, Kristine A. “Can Tech Startups Change the Way We Eat?”Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 31 Oct. 2013. Web. 17 June 2014.