Children's Activity Centre, of Shipping Containers

Repurposed shipping containers are perhaps the ultimate symbol of globalization running against the local grain, of a dead-end flow of global production and consumption being interrupted by a small recycling loop. Deconstructing and reusing such a potent symbol of industry involves breaking social norms guiding our interaction with material. It has the dubious honour of being, in a sense, the architectural equivalent of dumpster diving; in that both might be done out of poverty and economy as well as a concern for the environment, both breaching our categorisation of material as waste or food, as an artificial unit or as a building material like any other. But executed well, shipping container architecture can be honest, earthy, and perhaps a tad ironic. In fact, no trip to Melbourne is quite complete without a visit to Section 8, the laneway parking lot turned bar where drinks are served out of a renovated container, and young bohemians chat while sitting on shipping palettes.

PHOOEY’s shipping containers serve a different purpose of course, housing spaces for children to play, talk, and study. Situated in a typical children’s playground with the usual array of plastic looking colours, the architects might have been tempted to set their activity in stark contrast to it and stress the humility and grittiness of their downto- earth materials (everything that went into the project was plantation, durable, recycled, reclaimed, or reused), but PHOOEY took a different route. All materials are employed, ‘natural’ or not, playfully but judiciously, without prejudice except to its level embodied energy and the function it performs. Off-cuts and left-overs were anticipated, and worked into the project as balustrades and other elements – PHOOEY’s aim is zero waste.

The project consists of 4 shipping containers, staggered and arranged in two floors oriented to allow Port Phillip Bay’s summer breeze to cool the building, and with insulation and weather seals for winter. The second floor, consisting of two shorter containers at angles to those on the first floor, is accessed using an exterior staircase, which leads onto a spacious timber deck. Unlike some other container buildings, those in PHOOEY’s activity centre were reused as-is, unpainted and including all of its parts. The cut-outs which didn’t become balustrades were appropriated as awnings and decorative elements. Timber deck off-cuts became soffit linings. Inside, carpet tiles cover the floors, walls, and ceiling; peeling away where the fluorescent lights occur. Rainwater is drained off the roof of the containers into a pond and reed bed.

PHOOEY’s activity centre within a playground is a setting for childhood adventure and learning. What better place than this to display in tangible, visible form the principles of sustainability? The zero-waste philosophy is manifested plainly in every detail of the project, creating a rustic and unpretentious setting for children’s play.

Designed with community consultation, the activity centre seems like a place better suited to the ecologically aware, confident and active adults of tomorrow. +

1 Almost as if the containers were simply ‘rearranged’, the project looks incidental and improvised, yet highly functional and context-specific. 2 The second floor containers are accessed via the timber deck, with container cut-out balustrading. 3 Rainwater drains into a pond and reedbed. Off-cuts were also appropriated as sunshades. 4 Carpet tiles cover the floor, walls, and ceiling inside the containers. On the ceiling, the tiles peel away where the fluorescent lights occur. 5 The open doors of a container cantilevering over a pond creates an almost accidental looking enclosed balcony space.

PHOTOGRAPHY by Peter Bennetts