“We just respond creatively to what humanity pushes aside.” Today AD is in Brooklyn, New York to tour a townhouse comprising 18 shipping containers. Designers Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano, founders of LOT-EK, have been using shipping containers in their work for 30 years, becoming pioneers in sustainable architecture. Comprised of 18 containers from a yard in New Jersey, this townhouse exemplifies how humble materials can be turned into something extraordinary and pave the way for a more sustainable future.
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00:00Sustainability in architecture is typically thought of as the energy consumption of a
00:11building after it's built.
00:14For us, sustainability instead is about the way that you actually build the building.
00:20When we first started using the shipping container about 30 years ago, there was a lot of stigma
00:26attached to it.
00:28And since then, the shipping container and prefabrication have gained much more respect.
00:33We just respond creatively to what humanity pushes aside.
00:37And that's why when we designed this house, we wanted to use 18 shipping containers to
00:44push this object to another level.
00:48I always hope that that's the biggest legacy that we can leave, the idea that one can create
00:53something very exciting, like this house, out of something very humble, like these 18
00:59old containers that we got out in a yard in New Jersey.
01:03It's a way to really understand that our creative potential is giant.
01:13I'm Giuseppe Rignano.
01:14I'm Ada Tolla.
01:15We are the founders of Lotec, the architecture studio.
01:21The building looks as if it was emerging from the underground.
01:26A quarter of the house is really cantilevering over the slope to the garage and to the main
01:31entrance, as you can see.
01:33So it creates a very dynamic corner.
01:36All the cuts that you see were all done offsite and then transported one container at a time
01:43here and assembled within three days.
01:46In cutting the stack of containers diagonally, we reused all the pieces that we took out
01:52from one side onto the other side to complete the decks.
01:56This was a way to create this continuous form and of course, also a way to use the container
02:02as much as possible.
02:03For this facade, this is the side with the doors of the shipping container.
02:09So you can see all the features of the bars with the locks, and it's a much more articulated
02:15side of the container and creates a very vibrating type of facade.
02:20We were very excited and, of course, also nervous about how the assemblage was going
02:26to go in this very busy corner, as we can see.
02:29So it's really, really fantastic to see how this thing went up, literally like a Lego
02:36toy in a matter of three days.
02:40We grew up in the same neighborhood.
02:42We met on the bus in Naples when we were 14 in high school.
02:49We didn't really become very close until the very end of architecture school.
02:54We traveled together for a couple of months, which was kind of like a very immediate cold
03:00shower test because we had only seen each other socially and suddenly we were basically
03:06living together.
03:07We kind of started noticing all the stuff that we don't want to see, the antenna, the
03:13duct, the air conditioning through your window, all things that we pretend are not there,
03:20but they're there very much, and they are an inspiration to us.
03:24So we started taking a lot of pictures of these things.
03:27We called it the urban scan, and it's still an ongoing thing.
03:31It's been 30 plus years that we've been taking pictures of this stuff, and it's really the
03:36base of what Lottec is all about.
03:43We're in the main space of the house now, which is one flight up from the entry level.
03:50Obviously, shipping containers are not meant to be lived in, so there's a real effort in
03:55understanding how to transform them.
03:58This is the cut that we did in these containers to combine them and multiply the space, and
04:07this is the remaining part of the corrugated wall of the container, which of course acts
04:13as a structure.
04:15In the other direction, also the containers are joined wherever you see this, which is
04:21a sill that connects the two containers.
04:25So this floor is three containers wide by two containers long, so it's six containers
04:31basically.
04:32The floor that you see here, these are the original floors of the container.
04:36The wood part is a species of hardwood plywood floor called apitong from Indonesia that is
04:44used for the production of shipping containers.
04:47The metal bits that you see of the floor basically corresponds to the point where a truck would
04:55connect.
04:56It's basically the hitch.
04:57The outer walls are all insulated.
05:01The insulation is contained between the outer corrugation and the inside wall.
05:06You can see actually the section of the wall, right, that whole entire six, seven inches
05:12of thickness there, it's all the insulation that goes on the perimeter walls.
05:18The house was originally designed for a family of four.
05:22So about three years ago, the house was sold to a new owner, a single man, Jonathan, who
05:30obviously utilizes the house in a very different way.
05:33When the house was sold, we understood why they were letting it go, but there was something
05:37that was slightly sad for us.
05:40I have to say that coming back here and seeing how Jonathan is occupying the house is very
05:46exciting.
05:47The architecture of the house has not changed at all.
05:50A lot of the finishes and colors have changed.
06:03The kitchen is completely a stainless steel construction from a company that we've used
06:09for 20 years to build all our kitchens.
06:13They do kitchens for restaurants.
06:15And of course, for this house, it was even more fitting since the owners were restaurateurs
06:21themselves.
06:22The idea of this big stainless kitchen made so much sense for us, like it's very utilitarian.
06:31It's very efficient.
06:32It's also somewhat theatrical, right, because it's the end of the entire open space of the
06:38house.
06:39It's really wonderful to see, you know, all the activity back here.
06:44Because of this beautiful wood floor from the beginning, we thought it would be nice
06:48to think about mirroring them and also enclosing the ceiling.
06:55The ceiling is also a way to insulate from one level to the next.
07:00Above all of this is insulation, and the finished material is Luan, which is a fairly simple
07:07and basic wood, but a nice counterpart also in terms of color to the epitome on the ground.
07:13The layout of the furniture is still the same, it's just that the furniture itself
07:17has changed.
07:18We always thought...
07:19Has upgraded.
07:20Exactly.
07:21We always thought of a very long table here for big dinner parties and a linear lighting
07:28coming from the ceiling.
07:29And it's interesting to see how Jonathan has transformed it from a decorative and from
07:34an artistic point of view.
07:38This is the living room proper.
07:40The sitting room.
07:42Jonathan did an amazing job refurnishing.
07:45The fireplace is a very interesting story, number one, because it's the last wood-burning
07:51fireplace to be permitted in New York City.
07:54It used to be this color, which is silver.
07:57The other important thing to say about the fireplace is that, of course, the owners,
08:02not only being restaurateurs, but owning one of the most famous barbecue places in New
08:06York.
08:07The joke was always that they wanted to be able to cook an entire pig.
08:13And that's why this is a very wide fireplace.
08:16It wasn't a joke.
08:17It wasn't a joke.
08:18It wasn't a joke.
08:19It was actual.
08:20The requirement was, I want to be able to put a pig inside the fireplace.
08:28And there we go.
08:29Hence the size.
08:30The furniture just feels like you want to take a nap right here.
08:34I mean, you want to take a nap here, but it's even better to take a nap over there.
08:39On the slant.
08:43So this is possibly the most interesting room in the house.
08:47Also, the shape of this room comes from having cut the containers on the underside, as we
08:55saw on the outside, to go down to the entrance of the house.
08:59So immediately when we saw this space in our computers, we said, okay, this is a home
09:06theater.
09:07I love these pillows.
09:09I want to come here.
09:10I want to be invited to watch a movie because they're super comfortable.
09:15There are three panels that allow you to close the room completely on this side and then
09:22darkening shutters on the other side so that this is really working as a home theater.
09:35So here we are in the primary bedroom.
09:37There is at the very top floor.
09:40So let's say three and a half floors off the sidewalk.
09:43We basically decided to not just have the ceiling in wood, this is still the loo one,
09:51but also the entire back wall is also covered with the loo one.
09:56And as you can see, the king size bed is insect into this wall in this niche.
10:04Also the projector with the screen that covers the window at night so that you can watch
10:11TV and film.
10:13The shower is very fun and kind of over the top because the idea that one could have this
10:19big shower looking out where again in Brooklyn, but at the same time is incredibly private
10:26because it's very much within the inner world of the house.
10:31I think that the open shower is very much connected also to these requests from the
10:37original owner of these two separate bathrooms, right?
10:40They really wanted two separate spaces with their own things and their own privacy.
10:46So on the big wood wall, there are these doors with the long piano hinge that we love
10:52that bring to the powder room.
10:54And then there's a back door that gives access to the walk-in closet at the very end.
11:00And then this is the symmetrical, the second powder room here on the other side with the
11:05same layout and the same secret door to the walk-in closet.
11:12There is one continuous closet, although this is a section for the one person and here is
11:19the shared part for shoes and everything.
11:22And it's interesting to notice that the top windows that we saw from the outside are actually
11:28the windows of this long walk-in closet.
11:31And here we are in the other powder room now, exiting again towards the bedroom.
11:42Now we are in the middle floor, so to speak, between the living room floor and the primary
11:50bedroom floor.
11:51This was meant to be a flexible space for the kids.
11:55And now Jonathan is using it as mainly as a studio.
12:00And from the studio, you can go this way to the guest room areas right here.
12:08We're still on the second floor.
12:10These are the guest rooms.
12:12Each one is the width of one container.
12:15Originally, these were the one bedroom slash two bedroom for the twins, because the original
12:25owners are twins.
12:27They were designed with the idea that they could have a single bedroom when they were
12:31smaller and then eventually this could be divided to create really two separate spaces.
12:36That's why there are also two doors here, the idea that this could be closed when they
12:41were ready to be a little bit more separate.
12:49We are now back on the ground floor, on the exterior, in the ground floor terrace, right
12:54off of the living room and the kitchen.
12:57And of course, the idea was because every floor has a terrace, we wanted to connect
13:04all of them to be able to throw a party where you have people on every floor.
13:10There was also the fantasy of projecting movies on that wall and therefore that all the exterior
13:17spaces could become sort of a theater.
13:21From here, you can take the stairs to go up.
13:24We should go.
13:24This, again, is the terrace of the middle floor, so the extension of the indoor office.
13:31And then from this floor on, the trellis is actually occupied by the solar panels.
13:38It was very important for us to take advantage of these long diagonal surfaces perfectly
13:46exposed to the sun.
13:48Here we are at the level of the primary bedroom.
13:52And up here is the most fun.
13:54This is the smallest space, but it's more of a viewpoint because from up here you can
14:00really see all of Williamsburg, Greenpoint.
14:04No, you can see downtown.
14:07I mean, you can see the Freedom Tower, you can see downtown, the Wall Street area.
14:13Yeah, this is a small space, but it's a perfect little perch to be here at sunset, maybe sit
14:20down and have a cocktail and relax at the end of the day.
14:25It's really a little jewel at the very top.
14:30This house is a very good example of a very comfortable and beautiful home created from
14:46this very common object.
14:49It's a continuous invention because we're always trying to push against it and push
14:55new boundaries and go to other places.
14:5730 years of work is a lot of work.
14:59It's very exciting to look back and to think about everything that we have accomplished,
15:03especially because we really started from nothing.
15:06Every time we do something is a way to look at what else can we do with this object, right?
15:12It's a way to question how much more you can invent and explore starting from this very,
15:17very simple box that we are obsessing with.
15:20And there is the desire to continue and try to do more and more and more and things that
15:25we haven't done before and explore other kinds of projects.