Massive shipping container shopping center to pop up in Warsaw

Nearly 300 shipping containers may soon be given a new lease on life as a massive pop-up shopping center in downtown Warsaw, Poland.

Designed by local architecture practice Szcz and commissioned by investor Nowa Epoka Handlu, the cargotecture proposal would transform a 2.6-acre site into one of the world’s largest shipping container retail complexes. Named Implant, the three-story modular building would house approximately 80 tenants and host mixed programming from retail and restaurants to social and cultural space.

Proposed for an empty lot adjacent to Warsaw’s Żelazna Street and Chmielna Street, Implant aims to revitalize a once-thriving area that was gutted during World War II and has since struggled to return to its former brilliance. In addition to urban revitalization, the project will inject much-needed greenery into the area with open courtyards and vertical green walls.

Modeled after existing shipping container pop-up malls such as London’s BoxPark and Bangkok’s ArtBox, Implant will include a usable floor area of 5,318 square meters and will be split in three main zones: food and beverage, retail, and social and cultural event space. A total of 273 shipping containers will be used: 221 40-foot-long containers and 52 20-foot-long containers. The bars and restaurants will be located on the ground floor of the three-story building while studios, shops and other services will be placed on the upper floors.

“Vertical division of functions represents the synergy between culinary consumption taking place on the ground floor, either inside or outside the bars, while more qualified functions attract people who have special interest in visiting furniture designers, craftsmen and artists located on the first floor,” the architecture firm said. “The lot is enclosed from the southern side with a lower building containing a multifunctional space for concerts, exhibitions and other events and a pop-up children’s museum accessible from the courtyard. The mix of bars, studios providing obligatory workshops for different age groups and large functions (children’s museums and multifunctional indoor space) will create a mix of users that will come to the complex due to varied motivations.”