School gets a shipping container sports hall

Sports hall for a school made from recycled shipping containers.

Using old shipping containers as bones for a new building isn’t a new idea in construction, as the advantages of the structure are many. Apart from being easy to construct and maintain, the structure developed is also cost-effective and has a lower carbon footprint than buildings made from conventional materials.


Dunraven School in London saw the advantages of shipping containers and utilized the same to build a new sports hall and gymnasium for the students in just three days. The building was constructed by SCABEL Architects and Urban Space Management.

The recycled shipping container gym was developed at the cost of only £1.5 million, which is about half the cost of a traditional gym. The shipping containers make three sides of the building and the fourth side, which is the entrance, features a translucent polycarbonate construction.

Greenest building

Well, “possibly” never belittles the claim as the monastery utilizes earth’s renewable resources in construction and sustenance as well. The 30,000 square foot, Holy Wisdom Monastery in Madison touts some really green credentials such as, geothermal heating and cooling systems, active solar energy generation and reduced water usage. Moreover, it has green roofs, rain gardens, rain barrels and prairie restoration facilities to ensure storm water runoff.

The custom-designed windows and photovoltaic panels provide 15 percent of the monastery’s energy. Making the most of the internet, the digital heating and cooling systems generate automatic emails to the occupants to make them open windows when temperature exceeds 74 degrees. So, natural ventilation cuts down on energy costs.