GOOGLE SHIPPING CONTAINERS

【CLIENT】

Google X (now X, subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.)

【PLACE + TIME】

Mountainview, CA / 2015

【PROJECT TEAM】

Because We Can ✦ Concept Design, Fabrication & layout Design, Fabrication, Delivery Logistics

【MADE IN OUR SHOP】

Complete build out of interior of shipping containers, complete with modification of exterior elements of containers.

A rough industrial exterior with a soft warm interior. We designed and constructed the plus lounges in place, inside these containers.

Schematic drawings for client review for the CNC cut generative Europly panels design.

The containers arrive at our fabrication shop, ready for modification.

Once we received the containers at our fabrication shop, detail measurements were taken and the modifications began.

Poking out the top, we put large openings in the ceiling of these containers to allow for fire code. A frosted acrylic detail lines the top of this container.

One container, an undulating wall form made of triangles. Dark and padded on the bottom, bright and warm on the top.

The final material wrapped lounge in its location at the Google X lobby.

The second container, a play with materials as the angles stripes inside wrap the walls and floor.

Fun textures line up, making striped patterns around the container lounge interior.

A quick job of matching triangles to their locations, two people have this assembled in a few days.

The triangles, each specific to their site, have a programmaticallygenerated numbering system that needs sorting before assembly.

This fun label we created mimicking the signs that shipping containers would typically have posted on them for transport. There are funny notes and inside jokes on this.....

A view from one container lounge to the other. These were placed on opposite sides in the center of the large lobby.

A pile of soft grey felt panels ready for client approval.

This 'paneled' scheme uses generative design to have a series of panels 'flow' within and around the inside of the space.
Sound insulation behind the panels, making the gaps between the panels help cancel out sound.

In the shop..... creating the necessary details.

This 'striped' scheme has a spiraling pattern of different materials in different widths. CNC 3D carved hewn panels painted with a
white lacquer make for a textured complex surface, with pragmatic cork stripe for pinups, a hot-rolled steel stripe for magnets,
and fabric on foam for acoustic dampening.

Schematic drawings for client review for the material wrap panels design.

The different materials meant to be both useful and interesting. The dark brown is cork (pin up board), the black is steel (magnet board) the soft white is a fabric (pin up board). The hewn panel is for decorative interest, and like the other materials, helps with sound.

The walls turn into the floor with soft carpeting that matches.

This containers panels are assembled in large units and then attached to create a seemless look.

We attached these specialty wheels onto the outside corners of the containers, allowing us to easily move them around at our shop & at the final site.

Sitting in its final location in the (then new) GoogleX building lobby, this container lounge is a casual place for people to meet, chat or just hang out.

Joel and Jacob, two BWC lead fabricators, pose inside of their work.

Looking up into the opening of the triangle container, the enclosing half circle continues the soft feel of the interior.

The triangles pop out of the ceiling creating a fin like top to the boxy container.

Joel and Jacob, two BWC lead fabricators, pose inside of their work.

【ABOUT】

Needing some interesting lounges in their new building, we stepped up to the design challenge with two distinct interior designs using 10 ft shipping containers. One design uses a generated triangle pattern, the other a wrapping striped panel design. The padded and plush interiors give a fun, cozy place for hanging out, while a cool industrial container still wraps the exterior.