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Architects Envision Shipping Containers for NYC Restaurant Sheds

On August 18, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams announced that "With this initiative (Permanent Open Restaurants Program), we are also taking the essential step towards a permanent Open Restaurants program that all New Yorkers can be proud of every day," the mayor added. "I want to say it loud and clear: Outdoor dining is here to stay."

Axis Mundi proposes a design solution that will replace the hastily built wooden eyesores that have lined the city streets for the past few years with both a design-forward and pragmatic vision. Shipping containers are the perfect size, readily available, and repurposable. The containers could be constructed in a modular louvered metal panel system (more Miesian in concept) and immediately customizable. The containers would accommodate a variety of configurations suitable for seasonal demands and privacy concerns," stated John Beckmann, the founder, and principal of Axis Mundi. Beckmann continues: "The shipping container reinforces the dining ethos with its substantial and well-traveled permanence, its strength with bespoke capability."

Positing the passenger train as a design model, Axis Mundi details two schemes: the dining car and the bar car. The rail cars suggest glamour in measured comfort and contained proportion. The design features a black and white checkerboard floor, round porthole windows framed by striped awnings, and Thonet chairs. It is cosmopolitan, stylish, and streamlined. The shipping container exterior with the luxury interior is unexpected and exciting as if it is hiding in plain sight. “We added a green roof of tall grass. The vegetation will reduce ambient street noise and regulate temperature below. It also playfully softens the hard lines.” says Beckmann. We see the container shelter as a ready-made object, as its design is complete. We anticipate numerous variations on the theme, as the shipping container permits customization befitting a restaurant's respective brand," Beckmann concluded.