//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 context Miami, Florida
da Vinci muscle/skeleton
drawing
20 0 5 10
20 0 5 10
/ / flexi ble, shaded publi c spaces ani mate the ground pl ane
HOTEL ROOMS
EXOSKELETON
CONTAINER SKIN
TRACKS
CIRCULATION
CIRCULATION
NODES
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 exoskeletons pneumatic pumps set in
motion certain areas of the structure.
//cladding systems
02
EXOSKELETON FAMILIES MUSCLE+TENDON+EXOSKELETON
*MECHANICAL/STORAGE GROWTH
SKELETAL ZONES
programmatic activity throughout day
03
04
01
Muscle+Tendon+exoskeleton exoskeleton families skeletal zones
/ / MODUL AR HOT EL AS ZONES OF KI NET I C SKEL ETAL SYST EMS
muscle=program
fiber=container track
Tendon=Circulation Pathways
Exoskeleton=Structure
fins=Structural glazing
//circulation corridor
//The hotels 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 NUMBER
numbers 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 USE ID PROGRAM ZONE
activity against time
am am pm
6_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
reception
Lobby
Entrance
restaurant
pool
bar
retail
office
meeting space
mechanical
storage
horizontal (zone1)
horizontal (zone2)
vertical (tower 1)
vertical (tower 2)
1
1 9
9
2
3
4
5
6
7
//lobby
/ / SHI PPI NG CONTAI NERS: ADAPT I VE AND SUSTAI NABL E SPACES
9:00 PM 2:00 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 exoskeletons
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
rooms 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.