The lowly shipping container has become a pretty important element of post-quake Christchurch. (Note, LA people, having all those extra containers down by the port will matter to us someday.) From the temporary shopping complex of the Re:START mall, to supports for old building facades that somebody still wants to save, to ballast-filled containers serving as barriers to protect streets and public areas from dangerous structures, they are everywhere.
They can be made quite beautiful and it almost seems a shame that they will eventually be replaced with something else. In many areas they are decorated with artistic installations and other transitional elements designed to “green the rubble.”