LightBox: Creative, Adaptive Reuse in Sustainable Design

Kimberly Citizen August 10, 2011 Tweet

As communities throughout the world continue to realize the consequences of years and years of being environmentally unconscious, we are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of being good stewards of the environment as we continue to grow and build communities. As such, sustainable design and green architecture have become increasingly popular buzz words in the real estate development community.

One of the many facets of this green movement is creative, adaptive reuse of resources. A group of students enrolled in Morgan State University’s Bachelor’s of Science in Architecture and Environmental Design program (BSAED), under the tutelage of Michael Zebrowski, Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P), took on the challenge to create a workspace from a used shipping container. This experiment is called The LightBox.

The LightBox project has partnered with a Baltimore-based non-profit materials reuse center, The Loading Dock. The LightBox will ultimately be a workshop and studio space designed and developed with 85% reclaimed and recycled material. Upon completion, the LightBox will be moved to a permanent location at The Loading Dock, where it will serve as a home to local community programs.

While appearing at Artscape, the Lightbox project generated a great deal of interest due to its use of passive solar design and reclaimed materials.  It is a perfect example of this new era of ingenuity in design and architecture. Such projects have proven that an environmentally friendly approach to design and architecture can aid in improving our communities and the impact that we have on the environment.