I’ve seen shipping containers used as tourist accomodations in a wakeboarding facility in the Philippines, but this upcycling proposal, dubbed project Crou by Olgga Architects in France takes the prize in innovative recycling of shipping containers.

The student complex, made of 100 shipping containers stacked in two groups and placed in a pyramid-like pattern on top of each other, is located in the city of Le Havre. Home to the second busiest port in France, it makes perfect sense for the city to reuse the hundreds of shipping containers that are retired every year by the shipping lines operating from this port.

There’s obviously limited space inside a shipping container, but compared to many student accomodations out there, these look spacious and comfortable enough. The stairs structure looks like temporary scaffolding in some construction site, but I’m sure it’s sturdy enough for the students who will live in this complex.

Creating a student dormitory made up of these huge crates, although not new, is an excellent upcycling idea that other port cities around the world might find it worthwhile to emulate.