James Whitaker designs funky light-filled office space out of shipping containers

Cargotecture is a popular building system for modern structures, including this proposal for a low-cost office in Germany by London architect James Whitaker.

Hechingen Studio is a crystal-shaped shipping container office that uses multiple glazed end walls to funnel natural light into the interior. The floor-to-ceiling glass also frames views of the surrounding landscape.

An advertising agency commissioned Whitaker to develop the Hechingen Studio design as a low-cost cargotecture workspace near the rural German town of Hechingen. Although the project was never realized—the agency shut down before the design could move into production—Whitaker retained the designs and created digital renderings.

The building’s radial, crystal-like structure was inspired by “crystal growths in a science laboratory and the eleventh-century [Hohenzollern] castle that overlooks Hechingen,” Whitaker told Dezeen. The modern building is designed to be elevated above ground on concrete pillars, with the cantilevered shipping containers bolted to the tops of the lower containers for stability. While the renderings show the proposed office in a grass clearing ringed by forest, Whitaker says the building could be assembled anywhere.