ever since my favorite architects (lotek) i have been a fan of found architecture through re-use of industrial containers. these objects are loaded with global industrial symbolism, and as it turns out, also political: this amazing site describes battleboxes, or the use of shipping containers as troop shelters by the us armed forces. their argument is that americans are alienating iraqis by living in palaces, and that if they lived in shipping containers they would appear less like permanent invaders and more like temporary liberators. (see this video). of course that hasn’t stopped israeli settlers from using containers because of their other attributes – like their bulletproofness.