Thinking Inside the Box
Date Posted: September 17, 2013
Posted In: Ideas,
From FeastSTL.com: On Thurs., Dec. 6, 2012, John Burse, principal at Mackey Mitchell Architects, got a call from his friend and local landscape architect and planner, Jim Fetterman, that went something like this:
Fetterman: Have you heard about the Washington University Sustainable Land Lab competition? They’re looking for sustainable design projects to be built on vacant lots in Old North St. Louis. Winners get $5,000 in seed money and a two-year land lease to implement the projects. So what are you submitting?
Burse: I don’t know. When’s the deadline?
Fetterman: Monday.
Burse: Well, then, we better get to work.
Four days later, Burse and Fetterman submitted their original plans for Bistro Box, a café and culinary incubator to be built with used shipping containers. Bistro Box was one of four winners chosen in April 2013 from 48 proposed Sustainable Land Lab projects. The concept is now on its way to becoming a reality.