Can You Believe What They Did With Shipping Containers?

Nov 22, 2017 • Mike Field

The shipping container: an incredible tool to revitalize neighborhoods and urban centers.

TRANSFORM AN ENTIRE CITY BLOCK

The Yard is a pop up shipping container village located on a waterfront lot adjacent to San Francisco’s AT&T Park. Created by China Basin Ballpark Co, the real estate arm of the San Francisco Giants, this temporary use of space is designed to be a harbinger for future development. Eventually, China Basin intends to build a mixed-use development project and public park on the site. The Yard combines restaurants, a food truck park, a bar and retail pop up shops constructed from shipping containers with a series of programmed community events. As it stands, the plan is to keep The Yard operational through 2017 until the development team can begin vertical construction on the underlying lot.

Photo Credit: M Field

What started out as an urban intervention master’s thesis for architectural students Philip Auchettl, David Lowenstein and Jason Grauten, quickly morphed into a unique urban piazza in downtown San Diego and financed by a massive crowdsourcing campaign with contributions from more than 200 San Diegans. Encompassing an entire city block, the Quartyard activtes a 25,000 square foot vacant lot using shipping containers to construct a unique third place featuring a music stage, coffee shop, beer garden, restaurant and dog park. The partners signed a two year lease for the space that extends through late 2017, at which time a decision will be made to explore whether permanent construction will begin on the site. Due to the flexibility offered with shipping container structures, if the current lot does get developed it is entirely possible that the Quartyard could simply be moved to temporarily activate another underutilized site in downtown San Diego.

Photo Credit: www.quartyardsd.com

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Photo Credit: www.quartyardsd.com

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Photo Credit: www.quartyardsd.com