The Globe and Mail

There may be no greater symbol of globalization than the shipping container. Manufactured in major exporting nations such as China and South Korea, these rusting steel hulks are literally stacked like poker chips on the shores of the import-dependent Western world. But in an age that celebrates the raw as much as the refined, more and more designers are seeing beauty in the ruggedness of this industrial form. "We want to glamorize the container," says Ada Tolla, co-founder of hot New York architecture firm LOT-EK, in a telephone interview. Originally from Naples, Tolla and her partner, Giuseppe Lignano, are fascinated by the industrial landscape of North America. Their designs have used industrial castoffs from Boeing 747 fuselages to cement mixers, but they are best known for their container projects.