Hello All,
Now that we are switching gears and moving into a new direction I would like to share the boards we created for the Solar Energy exhibition.
These will now become idea place holders for our future exhibition garden around the new building.
Thus, we have a departure point when we get to the point of designing the new permanent building.
Why shipping containers?
Container History
Long term growth in shipping traffic:
According to David Edgerton’s “The Shock of the Old”, the world merchant fleet was
rated at 553 gross registered tonnes (GRT, a measure of capacity) in 2000. “It carried
more material than ever before in history”, comments Edgerton “and so cheaply that the price
of manufactures was barely affected by freight rates.”
In 1914, the world merchant fleet carried only 45 million tonnes; in 1950 85 million
tonnes was shipped globally; and in 1970 had increased to 227 million tonnes internationally.
The largest ships – as of 2000 – were 90,000 GRT, with a crew of 19, and could carry
more than 8,000 containers each.
After the U.S. Department of Defense standardised the 8’x8’x10’ container for military.
This was rapidly adopted for shipping purposes. There was an over-whelming need to
have a standard size for containers, to ensure they fit all ships, cranes, and trucks.
The U.S. container shipping industry dates to 1956, when trucking entrepreneur
Malcom McLean put 58 containers aboard a refitted tanker ship, the “Ideal-X”, and
sailed them from Newark to Houston. What was new in the USA about McLean’s
innovation was the idea of using large containers that were never opened in transit
etween shipper and consignee and that were transferableon an intermodal basis,
among trucks, ships and railroad cars. McLean had initially favored the construction
of “trailerships” – taking trailers from large trucks and stowing them in a ship’s cargo
hold. This method of stowage, referred to as roll-on/roll-off, was not adopted
because of the large waste in potential cargo space onboard the vessel, known as
broken stowage. Instead, he modified his original concept into loading just the
containers, not the chassis, onto the ships, hence the designation container ship or
“box” ship.
Containerization revolutionized cargo shipping. Today, approximately 90% of
non-bulk cargo worldwide moves by containers stacked on transport ships; 26% of all
containers originate from China. As of 2005, some 18 million total containers make
over 200 million
trips per year.
The five standard lengths are, 20-ft., 40-ft., 45-ft., 48-ft., and 53-ft. United States
domestic standard containers are generally 48-ft and 53-ft (rail and truck).
Presentation Board “Solar Energy Exhibition” – Option “A”
East Elevation
South Elevation
West Elevation
North Elevation
Presentation Board “Solar Energy Exhibition” – Option “B”
Perspective
South Elevation
West Elevation
North Elevation
East Elevation