Inside an NYC Townhouse Made From 18 Shipping Containers

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Sustainability in architecture

is typically thought of as the energy consumption

of a building after it's built.

For us, sustainability instead

is about the way that you actually build the building.

When we first started using the shipping container

about 30 years ago,

there was a lot of stigma attached to it,

and since then the shipping container

and prefabrication have gained much more respect.

[Ada] We just respond creatively

to what humanity pushes aside.

And that's why when we designed this house,

we wanted to use 18 shipping containers

to push these object to another level.

[Ada] I always hope that

that's the biggest legacy that we can leave.

The idea that one can create something very exciting

like this house out of something very humble,

like these 18 old containers

that we got out in a yard in New Jersey.

It's a way to really understand

that our creative potential is giant.

[zealous music]

I'm Giuseppe Lignano.

Ada Tolla.

We are the founders of LOT-EK, the architecture studio.

The building looks

as if it was emerging from the underground.

A quarter of the house is really cantilevering

over the slope to the garage

into the main entrance as you can see.

So it creates a very dynamic corner.

All the cuts that you see were all done off-site

and then transported one container at the time here

and assembled within three days.

In cutting the stack of containers diagonally,

we reused all the pieces

that we took out from one side onto the other side

to complete the decks.

This was a way to create this continuous form

and of course also a way to use the container

as much as possible

For these facade.

This is the side with the doors of the shipping container,

so you can see all the features of the bars with the locks

and it's a much more articulated side of the container

and creates a very vibrating type of facade.

We were very excited and, of course, also nervous

about how the assemblage was going to go

in this very busy corner, as we can see.

So it's really, really fantastic

to see how this thing went up,

literally like a Lego toy in a matter of three days.

We grew up in the same neighborhood.

Met on the bus in Naples when we were 14.

[Giuseppe] When our way to school-

[Ada] In high school.

We didn't really become very close

until the very end of architecture school.

We traveled together for a couple of months,

which was kind of like a very immediate cold shower test

because we had only seen each other socially

and suddenly we were basically living together.

We kind of started noticing

all the stuff that we don't want to see.

The antenna, the duct,

the air conditioning through your window,

all things that we pretend they are not there,

but they're there very much

and they are an inspiration to us.

So we started taking a lot of pictures of these things.

We called it the urban scan.

And it's still an ongoing thing.

It's been 30 plus years

that we've been taking pictures of this stuff

and it's really the base of what LOT-EK is all about.

We're in the main space of the house now,

which is one flight up from the entry level.

Obviously shipping containers are not meant to be lived in,

so there's a real effort

in understanding how to transform them.

This is the cut

that we did in these containers to combine them

and multiply the space.

And this is the remain part

of the corrugated wall of the container,

which, of course, acts as a structure.

In the other direction,

also the containers are joint wherever you see this,

which is a seal that connects the two containers.

So this floor is three containers wide

by two container long, so it's six containers basically.

The floors that you see here,

these are the original floors of the container.

The wood part is a species of hardwood, plywood floor

called Apitong from Indonesia

that is used for the production of shipping containers.

The metal bits that you see of the floor

basically corresponds to the point

where a truck would connect, it's basically the hitch.

The outer walls are all insulated.

The insulation is contained

between the outer corrugation and the inside wall.

You can see actually the section of the wall, right?

That whole entire six, seven inches of thickness there,

it's all the insulation that goes on the perimeter walls.

The house was originally designed for a family of four,

so about three years ago the house was sold to a new owner,

single man, Jonathan.

Who obviously utilizes the house in a very different way.

When the house was sold,

we understood why they were letting it go,

but there was something that was slightly sad for us.

I have to say that coming back here

and seeing how Jonathan is occupying the house

is very exciting.

The architecture of the house has not changed at all.

A lot of the finishes and colors have changed.

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The kitchen is completely a stainless steel construction

from a company that we've used for 20 years

to build all our kitchens.

They do kitchens for restaurants

and, of course, for this house it was even more fitting

since the owners were restauranters themselves.

[Ada] The idea of this big stainless kitchen

made so much sense for us.

Like it's very utilitarian, it's very efficient.

It's also somewhat theatrical, right?

Because it's the end of the entire open space of the house.

It's really wonderful to see,

you know, all the activity back here.

Because of this beautiful wood floor from the beginning,

we thought it would be nice to think about mirroring them

and also enclosing the the ceiling.

The ceiling is also a way to insulate

from one level to the next.

Above all of this is insulation

and the finished material is Lauan

which is a fairly simple and basic wood,

but a nice counterpart also in terms of color

to the Apitong on the ground,

[Giuseppe] The layout of the furniture is still the same,

it's just that the furniture itself has changed.

We always thought-

[Giuseppe] It's upgraded. Exactly.

We always thought of a very long table here

for big dinner parties

and a linear, a lighting coming from the ceiling

and it's interesting to see

how Jonathan has transformed it

from a decorative and from a artistic point of view.

This is the living room proper.

The sitting room.

Jonathan did an amazing job refurnishing.

The fireplace is a very interesting story, number one

because it's the last wood burning fireplace

to be permitted in New York City.

It used to be this color, which is a silver.

The other important thing to say about the fireplace

that, of course, the owners not only being restaurateur

but owning one of the most famous barbecue places

in New York.

The joke was always that

they wanted to be able to cook an entire pig,

and that's why this is a very wide fireplace.

[Ada] It wasn't a joke.

[Giuseppe] It wasn't a joke, exactly.

It wasn't a joke.

It was actual, the requirement was,

I wanna be able to put a a pig inside the fireplace.

Yes. And-

And There we go. Hence the size.

The furniture just feels

like you wanna take a nap right here.

I mean, you wanna take a nap here,

but it's even better to take it there-

It's too better to take a nap over there is exactly.

On this land.

So this is possibly the most interesting room

in the house.

Also, the shape of this room

comes from having cut the containers on the underside

as we saw on the outside to go down

to the entrance of the house.

So immediately, when we saw this space in our computers,

we said, okay, this is a home theater.

I love these pillows.

I want to have mirror, I want to be invited to watch a movie

because they're super comfortable.

There are three panels

that allow you to close the room completely on this side

and then darkening shutters on the other side

so that this is really working as a home theater.

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So here we are in the primary bedroom

there is at the very top floor,

so let's say three and a half floors off the sidewalk.

We basically decided

to not just have the ceiling in wood,

this is still the Lauan,

but also the entire back wall

is also covered with the Lauan.

And as you can see, the king size bed

is insect into this wall in this niche.

Also, the projector with the screen

that covers the window at night

so that you can watch TV and film.

The shower is very fun and kind of over the top

because the idea

that one could have this big shower looking out

where, again, in Brooklyn,

but at the same time is incredibly private

because it's very much within the inner world of the house.

I think that the open shower is very much connected

also to these requests from the original owner

of these two separate bathrooms, right?

They really wanted two separate spaces with their own things

and their own privacy.

So on the big wood wall there are these doors

with the long piano hinge that we log

that bring to the powder room,

and then there's a back door that gives access

to the walk-in closet at the very end.

And then this is the symmetrical,

the second powder room here on the other side

with the same layout and the same secret door

to the walk-in closet.

There is one continuous closet,

although this is a section for the one person,

and here is the shared part for shoes and everything.

And it's interesting to notice that the top windows

that we saw from the outside

are actually the windows of these long walk-in closet.

And here is we are in the other powder room now

exiting again towards the bedroom.

[playful music]

Now we are in the middle floor, so to speak,

between the living room floor and the primary bedroom floor.

This was meant to be a flexible space for the kids

and now Jonathan is using it as mainly as a studio.

And from the studio.

You can go this way to the guest room areas, right here.

We are still on the second floor, these are the guestrooms.

Each one is the width of one container.

Originally, these were the one bedroom/two bedroom

for the twins because the original owners had twins.

They were designed

with the idea that they could have a single bedroom

when they were smaller

and then eventually this could be divided

to create really two separate spaces.

That's why there are also two doors here.

The idea that this could be closed

when they were ready to be a little bit more separate.

We are now back on the ground floor on the exterior

in the ground floor terrace

right off of the living room and the kitchen.

And, of course, the idea was

because every floor has a terrace,

we wanted to connect all of them to be able to throw a party

where you have people on every floor.

There was also the fantasy of projecting movies on that wall

and therefore that all that exterior spaces could become

sort of a theater.

From here, you can take the stairs to go up. We should go.

This again is the terrace of the middle floor,

so the extension of the indoor office

and then from this floor on

the trail is actually occupied by the solar panels.

It was very important for us to take advantage

of these long diagonal surfaces

perfectly exposed to the sun.

Here we are, the level of the primary bedroom.

[Ada] And up here is the most fun.

This is a the smallest space, but it's more of a viewpoint

because from up here you can really see

all of Williamsburg green point.

[Ada] No, you can see downtown, I mean-

[Giuseppe] And you can see-

[Ada] You can see the Freedom Tower, you can see downtown,

the Wall Street area.

Yeah, this is a small space,

but it's a perfect little perch to here at sunset,

maybe sit down and have a cocktail and relax

at the end of the day.

It's really a very, a little jewel at the very top.

[tranquil music]

This houses is a very good example

of a very comfortable and beautiful home

created from these very common object.

It's a continuous invention

because we are always trying to push against it

and push new boundaries and go to other places.

30 years of work is a lot of work.

It's very exciting to look back

and to think about everything that we have accomplished,

especially because we really started from nothing.

Every time we do something is a way

to look at what else can we do with this object, right?

It's a way to question

how much more you can invent and explore

starting from this very, very simple box

that we are obsessing with and there is a desire to continue

and try to do more and more and more

and things that we haven't done before

and explore other kind of projects.

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