Quick Container Construction, Casual Mexican Dining

In southeast Portland, OR, one creative entrepreneur has taken a unique approach to the construction of his drive through/walk up restaurant. He's chose to create the entire restaurant structure out of a used cargo container.

Working with architects and structural engineers, Kurt Lance purchased the used cargo container for $2500 and performed all of the modifications required for his Mexican restaurant, Aprisa, off-site. The frame of the container was modified, windows and insulation were added, and the unit was wrapped with siding. After the modifications and the foundation was installed on the site, the container was moved to it's current location on the corner of a busy intersection in Portland. It's important to note that no heating system was required. Due to the high level of insulation and the heat generated by the cooking equipment, the restaurant generates and utilizes it's own heat over the winter - Even in the cold winters of the Pacific Northwest.

Building the container restaurant wasn't hard. "There's no construction methods that are extremely intricate or technical," Lance said. The hardest part was having the design approved by the state of Oregon. "That was technical. But the construction itself? Fairly simple."

However, the cargo container isn't just a building to Lance, and he really appreciates and understands the somewhat romantic view of the shipping industry and containers. "This thing, it's had a life. It was born somewhere, and it's travelled the world and hauled millions of pounds of who-knows-what. And it ends up as a little restaurant in a street corner in Portland, Ore."