It’s been quite a while to notice concepts of Shipping Containers. Well, this is one of it, Again from TreeHugger HERE. Well if it’s not because of Malaysia’s tropical climate, how I hope we could play around with these module concepts here…
If you happen to be passing through Tukwila, Washington, make a pit stop at Starbucks’ brand new reclaimed shipping container coffee shop. The first in what could possibly be a new branding strategy, the Reclamation Drive-Thru is built out of four shipping containers and has been designed to LEED green building standards. Designed in-house by resident Starbucks architects, the container coffee shop is part of a growing initiative at Starbucks to encourage green building to reduce energy use and operational costs as well as to push the envelope on environmental design in retail. As with all things from the global coffee dispensary, the container drive-thru is Starbucksified and emanates the same trendy design aesthetic you’d expect from their other coffee shops. We checked in with Starbucks and got them to spill the beans about their latest creation.
They’ve reduced signage by using the actually building as the sign and also integrated rainwater harvesting and xeriscaping to minimize water consumption
inspiration for the shipping container drive thru came from the company’s use of the containers to ship their coffee and tea from sources around the world. Rather than let the containers wallow after moving their goods, the brilliant minds in Seattle thought to put them to good use and so the Reclamation Drive-Thru was brewed up. So far, it’s just a one-off shop, but it could serve as the prototype for future retail locations.
Although it’s not certified yet, the company hopes to achieve LEED soon, which will make the shop the first LEED building in Tukwila. They’ve reduced signage by using the actual building as the sign and also integrated rainwater harvesting and xeriscaping to minimize water consumption. Frankly, we’re happy that the coffee giant is jumping on the green bandwagon as their growing interest can help push sustainability and design further. We can’t particularly say we’re pleased that the latest shop is a drive-thru, but at least they included other strategies to reduce the impact.
The new coffee shop opened on December 13th and is playing Washingtonians with their Christmas Blend as we speak. We had a chance to check in with representatives from Starbucks to find out more about their newest store.
