A building made entirely out of shipping containers might not sound like the most glamorous place to work, but staff at a unique new office will tell you it is certainly one of the coolest.
In fact, the interior of the new regional headquarters of cargo-inspection company Geochem, which is built from 42 shipping containers welded together, is chilled to almost subzero temperatures.
That’s because of a careful process of insulation and fittings undertaken by Dubai company Smartbox, to convert scores of unlovable corrugated steel boxes into habitable offices and meeting rooms.
“From the outside, you would never know it was made out of shipping containers,” said Arjun Menon, managing director of Smartbox.
“From the inside, you can do anything you would like. If I had the budget, I could make one of our rooms look like the Burj Al Arab.”
The container architecture movement emerged in North America and Europe in the early 1990s, and took off in 2000 with the launch of Container City in London’s Docklands.
Although Smartbox has been operating in some form since 1997, the Geochem office in TechnoPark is the region’s first permanent building made of shipping containers.
It is unlikely to be its last.
The company already has plans to start work this year on an even larger, two-storey office building for Dubai Design District, a new development by Tecom taking shape near Dubai Mall.
The building will have inverted shipping containers as wind towers, which will mimic traditional Arab design.
The company is considering dozens of other ideas, from public toilets at bus stops to affordable accommodation for the Expo 2020 site.
PHOTO: The new regional headquarters of cargo-inspection company Geochem has been built out of 42 shipping containers by Dubai company Smartbox. Jeffrey E Biteng / The National