Sun, Sand, and Containers - Summer Shipping Container Trends

Shipping containers provide a versatile and sustainable solution for creating summer havens. From backyard escapes to beachfront retreats, these repurposed containers offer endless possibilities for enjoying the sun, embracing and beautifying unused spaces, and enhancing summer experiences in unique and innovative ways.

Here are 7 container applications you might see while you’re out on a summer day:

VIP Areas For Outdoor Events & Festivals

Photo Credit: Royal Wolf

Shipping containers are used to build the structure for sporting events, concerts, and festivals because they are weather-friendly, can provide a flow for traffic, and are flexible enough to create attractive spaces that are aligned to the event's needs.

Container Pools

Photo Credit: Homes To Love AU

As the summer heat intensifies, people are seeking out fun but cost-effective ways to stay cool in their outdoor spaces. Much like container ‘tiny homes’, shipping container pools are all the rage for their sustainability, functionality, style, and movability. Container pools make fantastic lap pools, can be built from a 20’ or 40’ unit, and can move with you if you ever decide to relocate!

Summer Art Installations & Advertising

Every city has a corner or two that could use some reviving, and what better thing to use than a blank canvas like a container? Between vinyl wraps, creative stacking or placement, or custom paint jobs, municipalities can turn any alleyway or nook into a purposeful, lively, and Instagram-worthy community space.

Retail Pop-Ups For Summer Markets

Between supplies, overstock, and the sheer cost of commercial space, being a retailer in a traditional brick-and-mortar model can eat up your budget quickly. Boasting flexibility and versatility, shipping containers lend themselves well to on-site storage space for inventory management, or as a customized pop-up space that moves and works with you. Make your space yours by adding lighting, sleek flooring, branded decals, roll-up doors, racks, and more!

Parklets & Green Space For Unused Urban Spaces

Photo Credit: Pop-Up City

Though you'd be hard-pressed to find many gardens in the midst of any concrete jungle, many municipalities have started repurposing shipping containers into "parklets" or green spaces in urban spots that are otherwise lacking purpose or use. This example showcases the City of Montréal using upcycled materials like shipping containers to transform some of its quiet urban areas into seasonal and temporary places to rest and catch some shade, where parks are otherwise a little more out of reach.

These parklets are visually inviting with the use of bright colours and artistry painted by local artists and have made an otherwise void space into a vibrant communal hangout. Modifying containers by cutting them in half or simply opening the side walls to accommodate the free flow of a breeze can quickly change the environment of a busy concrete corridor, while simultaneously giving you a place to rest your feet!

Public Wash Facilities

Shipping container washroom facilities provide a practical and versatile solution for temporary or semi-permanent sanitation needs. Their portability, customizability, cost-effectiveness, durability, and sustainability make them a popular choice for events, construction sites, and outdoor venues.

Take a look at similar shipping container applications.

Personal On-Site Storage For Summer Toys

Your summers are filled with adventure – dirt biking, ATVing, hiking and camping, climbing, and the list only keeps going. You may even accumulate more toys over the summer, and you’ll want to make sure the vehicles for your passion are kept in a safe space out from the elements and away from thieves.

Here are some options we recommend for storing your favourite adventure equipment.

Containers have been used all over the world for a multitude of creative or industrial purposes and are increasingly being thought of as the structure of choice where they would traditionally not have been used previously. Consumers, artists, and businesses are intrigued by this paradox of use (movement and permanence) and spectrum of aesthetic that creates both the tension and energy of a unique presence.

Simply put, shipping containers continue to grow in popularity where the common goals include attracting people and utilizing budget and resources in effective and creative ways.