Tuesday, I ‘m headed to Ford Motor Company Headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan for the Ford Trend Conference. Called Further with Ford, the conference will bring together leading experts from different industries: futurists, scholars, designers and tech developers to explore some of the social and technological advances that will shape consumer behavior and lifestyles in the near future. I couldn’t be more excited. And not just because one of the speakers is HBO star, Adrian Grenier whose latest endeavor is SHFT.com, a curated platform for all things ecology minded.  But because one of my favorite architects, Adam Kalkin will be one of the guest speakers! If you’re not familiar with him, I’m sure you’ve seen his work. Kalkin  pioneered the reuse of metal shipping containers as emergency housing in disaster situations, and believe it or not, even luxury homes. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you now I’m absolutely infatuated with the concept of reuse/recycle. While I don’t have many opportunities to practice this in my everyday urban life, I do try, whenever possible, to make a concerted effort to do so. The conference proves to be a unique exploration on how society may evolve in the areas of : eco-psychology, urbanization, simplifying design and accessible design, the topic Mr. Kalkin will be speaking about.  Stay tuned for more posts on the conference, until then I’ve included some of Kalkin’s  infamous designs, feel free to explore more of them on his site here.

Twelve shipping containers make up this house. This is the inside of the home you see above. Totally industrial with a SoHo loft-feel, no?