Urban architect Andres Duany –who for a couple of years now has been teasing city leaders with visions of what High Point could be—presented his plan for downtown Uptowne during a presentation at HPU.

Right up front I’ll tell you he’s dead serious:

Several potential uses for shipping containers, also known as sea-cans, were proposed.

“Many of our ideas have to do with shipping containers instead of buildings. Containers are affordable,” he said.

He suggested allowing the containers to be arranged along the edge of parking lots behind a stretch of North Main Street downtown behind Wells Fargo bank. They could house cafes in this space, for example.

Across Main Street, he said sea-cans could be stacked up in a series of courtyards in the parking lot next to the vacant former

North State Communications customer service building, which he said would be ideal for a children’s museum.

The courtyard of sea-cans could have solar panels on top, slides for kids and places for their parents to congregate.

“And what does it cost? $40,000 in containers, Very little money, but huge effect. That’s how you incubate things,” he said.

A civic building with space for 1,500 to 2,000 people to host conventions and athletic events is something Duany said the public wants.

He showed a drawing that would locate a building on a parking lot across South Hamilton Street from Showplace. The building would be constructed partially out of sea-cans stacked on top of a slab. The building could accommodate a basketball court with retractable seating.

“From the outside, it looks better than most civic buildings these days at a fraction of the cost. Why waste the money?” he said.

OK, sea can development is real, so Duany’s not insane. Or is he?