//EXOSKELETON//reconfigurable shipping container hotel

//The recycled shipping container is like a muscle, sliding along tracks attached inside an exoskeleton structure, creating reconfigurable spaces throughout the entire hotel. These reconfigurable spaces can be combined from single-containers into larger spaces, transformed into circulation paths, and relocated as deep shading devices for outdoor events. Tendon-like spaces provide the system for containers to slide. The exoskeleton rises over the earth as two expansive atriums that have shipping containers that form 9 major program spaces and 9 hotel rooms with a special 9-number coding system for identifying the specific configuration possibilities of each container.

//EXOSKELETON

hotel in contextMiami, Floridada Vinci muscle/skeleton

drawing

200 5 10

200 5 10

/ / flex ible , shaded publ ic spaces an imate the ground pl ane

HOTEL ROOMS

EXOSKELETON

CONTAINER SKIN

TRACKS

CIRCULATION

CIRCULATIONNODES

SERVICE

CENTRAL LOBBY

HOTEL ROOM

PUBLIC SPACE

FIELD

//connection to beach

//process

physical analog model to study site relationships

analog exploration to study contextual relationships

exoskeleton vocabulary development

//connection to collins avenue

//connection to beach//connection to collins avenue

//containers reconfigure through the hotel along steel tracks stretched through the inside of the skeletal frame. the exoskeleton’s pneumatic pumps set in motion certain areas of the structure.

//cladding systems

02

EXOSKELETON FAMILIESMUSCLE+TENDON+EXOSKELETON

*MECHANICAL/STORAGE GROWTH

SKELETAL ZONES

programmatic activity throughout day

03

04

01

Muscle+Tendon+exoskeleton exoskeleton families skeletal zones

/ / M O D U L A R H O T E L A S Z O N E S O F K I N E T I C S K E L E TA L S Y S T E M S

muscle=program

fiber=container track

Tendon=Circulation Pathways

Exoskeleton=Structure

fins=Structural glazing

//circulation corridor

//The hotel’s programmatic spaces define night/day (closed/open, asleep/awake) according to their own set of parameters. Hours of programmatic use and variable weather patterns are used to inform when the structure and skin open and close.

//IDENTIFICATION NUMBERnumbers are used to track containers/program as they travel through the building. The number specifies the number of possible connections each container makes to other containers in the hotel.

HOURLY USEIDPROGRAMZONE

activity against time

amam pm6_7_8_9_10_11_12_1_2_3_4_5_6_7_8_9_10_11_12_1_2_3_4_5_6

guest rooms

services

entrance corridor/micro atrium

nutrition corridor/Macro atrium

entertainment corridor

meeting zone

mechanical zone

circulation

hotel suites

laundry kitchen

receptionLobby

Entrancerestaurant

poolbarretail

officemeeting space

mechanical storage

horizontal (zone1)horizontal (zone2)vertical (tower 1)vertical (tower 2)

1

1 9

9

2

3

4

5

6

7

//lobby

/ / S H I P P I N G C O N TA I N E R S : A DA P T I V E A N D S U S TA I N A B L E S PA C E S

9:00 PM2:00 PM

an EXOSKELETON reconfigurable shipping container hotel

Concept//

The recycled shipping container is like a muscle, sliding along tracks attached inside an exoskeleton structure,

creating reconfigurable spaces throughout the entire hotel. These reconfigurable spaces can be combined

from single-containers into larger spaces, transformed into circulation paths, and relocated as deep shading

devices for outdoor events. Tendon-like spaces provide the system for containers to slide. The exoskeleton rises

over the earth as two expansive atriums that have shipping containers that form 9 major program spaces and 9

hotel rooms with a special 9-number coding system for identifying the specific configuration possibilities of each

container.

Site//

The site is located in North Miami Beach, Florida, and the beachfront site sits adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean

and Biscayne Bay. The building form responds to the activity and display of muscles on the beach and

encourages the connection between Collins Avenue and the Atlantic Ocean. Visitors commute north along

the busy Collins Avenue from downtown Miami to arrive at the site. In an attempt to integrate public spaces

into the hotel, an entertainment corridor (with retail and restaurant) was organized at the rear of the site. This

lively tendon connects Collins Avenue with the beach, aiming to link the hotel to the site by balancing

hospitality with entertainment in a comfortable, sustainable manner.

Program, Reconfigurability, and Identification//

As a primary part of their stay at the hotel, visitors use the building to sleep and wake up. This notion is used to

choreograph all the programmatic spaces as the building defines night/day (closed/open) according to its

own set of parameters. Hours of programmatic use and variable weather patterns are used to inform when the

structure and skin open and close. In addition to the translated movements of containers, the exoskeleton’s

pneumatic pumps set in motion certain areas of the structure to open and close in the case of severe weather

patterns. Frequent, and increasing hurricane recurrences encourage the exoskeleton to take on the brute

force of high wind loads. In the case of a hurricane, the containers retreat to the central core of the building

and the skeletal structure closes up like an insect in a storm. As the containers reconfigure according to their

dynamic environment, they are tracked by identification numbers which correlate to one of nine specific

programmatic uses. The number also identifies the number of possible connections each container makes to

other containers (the higher the number, the greater the number of container configurations possible for one

specific programmatic use.) As a result, the construction process is simplified by creating relationships between

the container and the unique tectonics of how they connect within the building.

Module, Program, and Circulation//

The building proposes a highly modular structure and skin to allow for reconfigurable programmatic spaces to

integrate commercial and recreational uses. Modulation is used as a tool to generate unique spaces through

repetition of structural families. By rotating and stretching, one modular form is reconfigured into families of units

for different applications. The modular families apply to different programmatic zones of the project, creating a

strong coherence among the building elements. The zones organize a large public space, a central lobby

space, hotel rooms, and service spaces. The program in these zones are choreographed as clusters of activity

which are oriented around nodes of circulation. The configuration of structure, skin, and circulation pathway is

highly regular in the center of the hotel, where the zones come together. As the muscle of program grows

further from this centralized core, the configuration of structure, skin, and pathways increasingly changes to

alter the inside and outside of different movement systems. To minimize floor space, covered circulation

pathways run between recycled container and steel exoskeleton. The exoskeleton peels in to support these

pathways as well as the cladding system that runs up through the towers. The pathways are covered by the

steel shipping container walls stretched inside the exoskeleton. Attached to a framework of steel substructure is

double-glazed, structural fins of glass that are used to support glass laterally for high wind loads.

The Hotel Room//

As the exoskeleton rises into the sky in the form of two hollow towers, 9 hotel rooms are strung between them.

The hotel units are configured from three shipping container units combined together. Visitors enter one of their

room’s units at lobby level and are lifted vertically through the tower where it meets with the 2 other hotel units

already in place. Horizontal tracks then guide the three units out between the two towers. At night, nine hotel

rooms simultaneously float like bird nests in the sky and offer views of the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay

during the day.