Instant Open

While vacationing in Canada recently, CNR editor Peter Downs came across an innovative use for old shipping containers: instant restaurant.
 
In only 90 seconds, the reconditioned shipping container in Montreal’s Old Port district unfolds its walls and awnings to unveil a seafood restaurant with a 28-seat terrace. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zSVSIWmSkY "> When done for the day, it folds back up. See this link for a YouTube video.

The brainchild of Daniel Noiseux, founder of the Pizzaiolle restaurant chain, the fully equipped restaurant-in-a-box gets nearly half its energy from two rooftop solar panels. Noiseux said he hopes to attain 100 percent energy self-sufficiency in five years. The two mechanized walls, which turn into patio floors when they fold out, are covered in flooring made from recycled tires.

Noiseux calls it Muvbox.
 
Architects from Aedifica helped Noiseux turn is brainchild into reality. They came up with to solutions for folding the walls and found sources for sustainable building materials. Noiseux said it takes six to eight weeks to turn a discarded shipping container into a fully equipped restaurant with a base price of $150,000 (Canadian).

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