Hasta La Ideas

Compete to reinvent a shipping container for Brooklyn’s new community market

Located in the heart of downtown Brooklyn’s Fulton Street mall, the upcoming Dekalb Market will be home to a food market and incubator farm, restaurants, work-sell shops, a performance venue and more. One of the spaces dreamed up to enclose all these attractions is a re-imagined shipping container, which Dekalb Market developer Urban Space is challenging you to design. The “Not Just A Container” competition tasks the creative community with coming up with an innovative idea for the structure, with the winner receiving six months free rent and $3,000 for design and construction, as well as one year memberships to 3rd Ward and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

Beginning today, the contest spans one month and I’m looking forward to checking out the designs as one of judges on the panel. Suggestions for use range from art installation to sports venues, but entrants are free to stretch their imagination while keeping to key criteria like design quality, sustainability, community impact and entrepreneurship. Designs must also conform to the size limitations for an ISO steel shipping container (8′ x 20′ x 9.5′).

For a full list of rules and regulations, visit the Not Just a Container website.