Bbservatory Made of Shipping Containers in Songdo

OceanScope by AnL Studio

Korean designers AnL Studio have completed an observatory made of shipping containers in Songdo New City, Incheon, South Korea.

Called OceanScope, the structure has three containers supported at angles of ten, 30 and 50 degrees so that visitors can ascend inside them and watch the sunset over the harbour.

Photographs are by Park So-Young and Chang Gil-Hwang.

The text below is from the architects:

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Title : OceanScope observatory by AnL Studio

Korean designers Keehyun Ahn & Minsoo Lee have designed a public observatory called OceanScope in In-cheon made of recycled materials, including old shipping containers.

The old containers are re-purposed and used for a temporary shelter in many rural areas in Korea simply because it is inexpensive.

However, indiscreet uses of these commercial metal-box products that don’t have harmonious relationships with their surroundings are causing an unsuccessful outcome in rural environments.

With these issues in mind, The OceanScope is an initiative from the Mayor of Incheon City, which has one of the biggest harbor in Korea aiming to find unused containers’ potential of practical re-use for public space and to provide the bleak containers with new functional aesthetics that can be assimilated within rural landscapes.

To this end, the OceanScope, located in the historic sunset place of Incheon city, expresses the dream of establishing an observatory deck purposed on sustainable design by recycling the least expensive unused containers.

In order to overcome the limitation of a building site where ground level is too low to view a beautiful sunset, the containers’ structure can be leaned at various angles (10′ 30′ 50′).

This will allow citizens to go up the stairs and meet higher positions with diverse viewpoints throughout the inside of each container.

Project name : OceanScope
Client: Incheon Metropolitan City,Korea / Cho Dong-Am, Ahn Young-Sik
Program: Public Observatory
Location: Songdo New City, Incheon, South Korea

Architect & Designer: Keehyun Ahn, Minsoo Lee
Planning & Producing : Chang Gil-Hwang, Kim Yong-Bae

Construction team: Ju Kwon-Jung, Choi Hui-hyun, Kim Chung-bong, Lee Seung-Ho, Park Kwon-ui, Kang Jung-Tae, Ham Yun-Ki
Start commission: 2010
Photographs : Park So-Young, Chang Gil-Hwang