Speech by Professor Janez Koželj at the opening of the first exhibition of shipping container architecture

Professor Janez Koželj, vice-mayor of Ljubljana and an architect, said at the opening of the exhibition:

“The architect Jure Kotnik researched the phenomenon of a shipping container in his graduate thesis, entitled ‘Conhouse’, and offered this kind of architecture to the users on his website at www.conhouse.com.

The most important result of the attempt to market the container architecture was the outstanding book, Conarch, for which a total of 6441 containers were used, and which was published in 2008 by the Links publishing house in Barcelona. Today’s exhibition is based on this book and displays new, exciting constructions made from shipping containers. These constructions speak of the diversity, and the number of possibilities and new ideas that this movement shows in modern architecture. The book begins by saying that container buildings are a young branch of modern architecture, which is especially noticed by the media due to their attractive, composite shapes.

Container architecture is fresh and playful, but most of all, it is pragmatic, simple architecture that displays the solution in plain sight, as it is an inherent part of its spatial gestalt. This architecture appears to have been tailor-made for Jure Kotnik, as it bears a lot of resemblance to his relaxed demeanour and approach to work, in which he searches for simple, quick and innovative solutions. The essence of container architecture lies in this search for simplicity, as it starts off by simplifying various problems that can be solved just by stacking and arranging basic spatial units.

Container architecture, therefore, is architecture in and of itself, since even the basic unit provides all the necessary security, shelter, structural strength and usefulness for varied purposes, negating the requirement for extensive planning. All that is required is to determine how the containers should be stacked according to the scale, purpose and location, where to install the support, how to equip them to meet functional needs and how to paint them.

Container architecture is certainly an interesting and important phenomenon, being neither a box nor a bubble, both of which seem to be the current icons of modern architecture, but it exceeds it all, as it implies structure in its most basic form, as well as stacking, growth and change.
Container architecture is also sustainable, as it follows the “reduce, reuse and recycle” maxim. Do more with less!

It also includes all the hallmarks of modern architecture in its original designs: it is industrial, large-scale, modular, mobile, additive, stackable, self-bearing, an open and growing structure that can be stacked in all directions – into rows, crosses, clusters, furrows - and produces various building forms: blocks, carpets, tiles, compounds and cones.

Container buildings are quick to set up and quick to tear down, quick to transport to and from a location, and can be stored for future use. Its building block is an independent, self-bearing functional unit that has no end. A part of the so-called Low-Tech structuralism, it is a truly international, cosmopolitan style, much more than functionalism ever was.

Container architecture is especially renowned for bearing a strong recognition message and a strong value connotation of:

• Advanced, flexible open society
• Ever changing dynamic space
• Users without preconceptions and prejudice
• Innovative architects and skilful designers
• The inquiring nature of architecture

This exhibition is also an opportunity to remember the 1960s, when structuralism, its program and its protagonists appeared.
The structuralists’ main objective was to introduce harmony between spatial and societal form. The answer to this question was found in the polyvalent form of the structures that allow individual participation and a personal interpretation.

Let us remember the famous architects: Herman Hertzberger, Candilis and Josič, Shagrach Woods, Aldo van Eyck, Luis Kahn, Van den Broek & Bakeme, Lucien Kroll, Piet Bloom, the famous Habitat 67 by Moshe Sadfi in Montreal, and the orphanage of Aldo van Eyck in Amsterdam. Even in the 1980s, these architects created groundbreaking, outstanding buildings using the structuralist method and the distinctive aesthetics of numbers.

Container architecture undoubtedly actualises the importance of structure in architecture, as it builds on establishing the proportions and the function of the smallest element, the container, to the building structure, giving real sense and importance to the work. Container architecture therefore supports the procedural view of the space as an open system and a flexible structure. This view is markedly at odds with the dogmatic and static view of architecture, the city, space and time.

Numerous student dormitories, apartments for young families, schools and kindergartens, youth centres and other buildings were constructed from containers, mostly in the Netherlands, but also in the USA, Canada, England and Spain.
I believe that container architecture is especially popular in those countries that are technologically advanced and support creativity, especially if it helps solve social problems.

In Slovenia, container architecture is not particularly well received, as it is hampered by rigid policies, administrative hurdles and bureaucratic incomprehension, as well as the prejudice of the general public, the general resistance to experimentation, uneducated clients, and last but not least, flexible designers. The popularity of container architecture is in my opinion a great indicator of the technological advancement of society and its propensity for practical, pragmatic and innovative solutions.

Allow me to conclude with this thought: Container architecture needs the space for free and responsible creativity. We lack such space and must open it up first. I hope this exhibition will contribute to this cause. Let this be its message and a challenge for all architects that are young at heart and in spirit.”