designSTUDIOmodern

Big Boy flattery

 

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so we are duely flattered that the big boys over at Starbuck's are opening up their own shipping container coffee shop. While we surely beat Starbuck's to the punch, it's likely that we weren't the first to get a full time coffee shop open in a repurposed shipping container. While we may not have been the first, we sure blazed a trail of good design, and pushed the envelope of shipping container coffee-shop-dom! Either way we'll take the flatteryand the imitation!

 

(photo credit: Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com)

The good folks over at State Impact/NPR picked up on the story and gave us a nice shoutout for all three of our shipping container based projects to date. I'm sure they'll be happy to know that there are more projects like that on the boards. Info on those projects to drop soon.

 

 

tastiest box in town

 

 

haha! SushiBox has their online menu and website up and running. Go check it out so you can stalk them on twitter, FB, and Yelp. All the cool kids are doing it!

Austin Modern

 

 

Nice little write-up over at 2Modern featuring a shout-out to La Boîte and sushiBOX. You got to give it to Adrienne. She has pretty good taste in modern!

 

link

food

 

Assuming all went well with some last minute paperwork, sushiBOX should be open for lunch tomorrow. Look for it at 2nd and Congress in Downtown Austin!!! It's going to be good.

pop-up

Lots of finishing touches are happening at the sushiBOX in preperation for opening.

 

 

The steel framed upper decks that attach to the trailer have been all decked out. The lower platform and step just sit on the ground and can be moved about if need be.

 

 

The final electrical whip was hooked up to the trailer and plugged into the subpanel. The vinyl logo has gone on as well.

 

 

 

All that is left is final consult and kitchen set-up with the chef, final paint touch-ups and some additional landscaping and they should be good to go.

 

 

details, details, details

 

sushiBOX is ever closer to being finished and installed on site. A lot has happened in the past few weeks, and now it is really starting to pay off... It is the tiny little details that finally make a project pop, and those are all getting done in quick succession this week.

 

 

Electrical is done, floor, ceiling and wall finish are wrapped up, interior trim is going on, seams are caulked, HVAC is in, and plumbing is well underway. Glass for the swing doors is to be installed tomorrow, and fridges and worktables go in as well. A little bit of plumbing, a little bit of final fabrication for the steps up to the doors, and the logo installed on the side are all that is left before we tow her off to get permitted and installed on-site. It'll be a sweet relief to see her in operations feeding the masses of downtown office workers.

 

 

Watch this spot for updates on opening celebrations.

heavy equipment

Tuesday was a big day at the shop. A 18ton crane showed up at the shop to help load two of the boxes to be shipped over to the trailer place for attachment of running gear and tongue for towing. They'll come back to the shop for final fit-out as actual trailers.

 

 

Crocker Crane Rental showed up early and prepped to pick the two boxes while we waited a bit for the lowboy tilt-bed towing service truck to show. Once they got here it was a quick and painless lift and set, and the tow truck shuttled the boxes down the street to the trailer shop. All in all it was an exciting yet straight forward day.

 

 

In prep for shipping the boxes off to the trailer shop we finalized all the welding on sushiBOX, sheathed-out the interior walls and floor in prep to accept the cleanable interior finish-out, and got the three overhead flaps operable, and prepped and primed the interior exposed steel. We also have pre-fabricated the swing doors, and are currently building out the cabinets in preperation for the return of the box as an actual trailer.

 

gas spring magic

 

The gas springs are installed now on the overhead flap doors and they make a BIG impact on the look and feel of the sushiBOX. It really does look like it will take flight now. The waterjet cut tabs need a bit of touch up work where they are welded to the steel frame, but they worked perfectly with the eye ends on the gas springs.

 

 

waterjet cut bits and pieces

Though a bit of miscommunication on the part of the waterjet company made these bits and pieces get to us about a week late, they did rush the order out as soon as the mistake was found, and the pieces came to us looking pretty damned awesome.

 

The koi are the handles to the sushiBOX entry doors, while the triangular brackets are the attachment points for the gas springs that will lift and hold the overhead flap doors. We'll have fully operable flap doors by the end of the day. Finally!

 

 

 

insulation

The walls and ceilings have been furred out, the electrical has been roughed in, and the insulation has been sprayed in. Next up: Sheathing out the walls and ceilings and installing interior finishes.