MVRDV Designs A Shipping Container-Based Solar-Powered Sports Club For Refugees

MVRDV is known for its incredible and high-profile projects and creations, but they recently dipped their toes into shipper container-based architecture. Called Klabu, this build is a solar-powered sports club for refugees! It is easily transportable and translates to club in Swahili. The club was designed in collaboration with a social enterprise called Klabu based in Amsterdam. They help and offer support to refugees, enabling them to rebuild their lives through sport.

Designer: MVRDV x Klabu

The club is built from a standard shipping container with a length of 20 feet. It showcases an interior floor space of 150 sq ft. The container features a bright orange exterior, which has been heavily modified. The facades on the sides and front are operable to offer sufficient ventilation, while a canopy provides shading. The roof has been integrated with solar panels to offer renewable power. Numerous phone/smart device charging points have been installed, as well as a wireless internet system.

“Sometimes the most powerful design comes from the simplest concept. Taking a shipping container, ordinarily the most mundane, everyday object, and transforming it into a bright, multi-functional clubhouse providing sports opportunities for refugees has been a deeply rewarding challenge,” said Gideon Maasland, director at MVRDV.

“By using a shipping container as the base, Klabu can deliver both the physical clubhouse structure and the necessary sports equipment in one go, forming a ‘flat-packed’ sports clubhouse,” said MVRDV. “The Klabu clubhouse design is currently in its third iteration, with the latest version soon to be installed at the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan, which is home to approximately 41,000 Syrian refugees. This follows clubhouses designed by MVRDV operating in the Waraotuma a Tuaranoko shelter in Boa Vista, Brazil, supporting indigenous Venezuelans who had to flee their country, and the M’bera refugee camp in Mauritania, which provides safety for 100,000 Malian refugees.”

The Klabu clubhouse showcases a design that is easily replicable and transportable, so it is a great option to provide refugees with a safe, versatile, and entertaining space to socialize and interact. It can be reused in different locations, or duplicated as a scalable model, offering support to more than 120 million people who have been displaced all around the world.