10 Brilliant Sustainable Shipping Container Homes
By Joe Wertz
Shipping containers homes are tough. Built from weathering steel, these building blocks of international trade are designed to withstand stacking, stuffing and strapping and are reused over and over. There are roughly 17 million of these containers floating, riding and flying around the world today, but the recent sustainable design trend has found these containers re-purposed to carry a more fragile cargo — humans.
Eight feet tall, eight feet wide and either 20 or 40 feet long, the containers don’t contain much space, but architects and building designers on the next page don’t exactly build within the box, so hit the jump and size up 10 great shipping container homes.
The Four Room House
Stacked vertically on four different floors, Belgian architects Pieter Peelings and Silvia Mertens of Sculp(IT) have created a compact home for streamlined living. Each of the four small rooms serves a specific function in this shipping container home. From the bottom up, a spiral staircase links a work floor, kitchen/dining floor, the living room floor and on the uppermost floor, a bedroom and bathroom space. [pic via]
Port-a-bach
Atelier Workshop’s Port-a-bach is a portable retreat designed to have a low-impact use on its host landscape. The housing unit can be dropped on site by helicopter or delivered by truck and easily connects to local utilities. The container home unfolds to “comfortably sleep” two adults and two children and has a bedroom and integrated kitchen and storage cupboards. [pic via]
Ecopod
The Ecopod is a small and energy-efficient way for a homeowner to get off the grid. The container home is easily transported and secure enough to leave in remote locations for extended lengths of time. Each Ecopod is powered by an 80-watt solar panel, floored with rubber made from recycled tires and insulated with a soy-based product.
Espace Mobile
The affordable and modular Espace Mobile home is designed to be customized, a process the designer likened to adding options to a new car purchase. The homes are made to retain heat and conserve energy and can be tweaked to include a balcony or all manner of roof and interior configurations. [pic via]
Container City
Urban Space Management’s Container City system makes the most use of urban space utilizing the innate design benefit of shipping containers — stacking. The modular units can be used for homes, apartments, office and work spaces and simply bolt together. The Container City designs are already being used by youth centers and for classrooms, art studios and retail spaces around the world.
Greentainer
An Exposure Architects project to create an eco-sustainable building and to reduce CO2 emissions, the Greentainer uses available resources and a solar panel to power the small housing unit, which could be used on an existing site as an accessory building or as a small cabin space in a remote location.
Zigloo
Keith Dewey used shipping containers to create a 2,000 square-foot home in Victoria, British Columbia. Using the recycled container building blocks, which only cost Dewey a few thousand dollars each, he was able to build his Zigloo, a three-bed/two-bath home with an open floor plan, five balconies and a full basement.
Redondo Beach Container House
Built around California’s notoriously stringent construction codes, De Maria Design’s Redondo Beach Container House is sleek and contemporary, barely hinting at the recycled and sustainable nature of the house. The American Institute of Architects gave the home design a 2007 award for innovative design, which incorporates the used shipping containers, which are integrated with traditional home building techniques.
Mobile Dwelling Unit
Each volume of LOT-EK’s Mobile Dwelling Unit serves a specific function. Built for those “moving around the globe,” the transportable MDU travels with its owner, returning to its shipping container roots by storing all their possessions and belongings during the trip. [pic via]
All Terrain Cabin
Big enough for a family of four and a pet, BARK’s All Terrain Cabin was designed so its owners could live off the grid, but not without comfort. The home can be transported by train, truck, plane or helicopter and when folded up, resembles a typical shipping container. Once installed, it expands into a 480 square-foot living space.
Thanks for reading, DesignCravers, Diggers, Stumblers and more. What is your take on the sustainable design trend in using recycled shipping containers? Could you live in one of these as a second home on a cheap, natural lot in the wilderness? Do you prefer your architecture to be a bit more dynamic in shape? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear your take on shipping container architecture.
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Tuesday, June 23, 2009 5:26PM
Love them. What great living spaces. Thanks for posting.
Thursday, June 25, 2009 12:39AM
have you seen the cubelofts? I believe http://www.loftcube.net/main.html – super awesome too! might already be on this blog but I want one for sure. haha
Thursday, June 25, 2009 12:42AM
Fantastic collection and it's amazing what you can do with these containers! When I was at school, as an craft/design project, I actually drew out some constructions like these, imagining them as just large building blocks.
Thanks for sharing these though; If I have the email to that tutor, I'd forward this to him too!
Alex | @ZenElements
Thursday, June 25, 2009 12:54AM
I would quite happily live In any of those. The best thing is you can move anywhere in the world and take you beloved home with you!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009 2:45PM
As a matter of fact I don't own a house as yet and I'm an engineer nearing 50 at that! And I'd love to have one of these portables! Great ideas and great products!
Thursday, August 20, 2009 7:40PM
The biggest problem seems to be zoning. People have these preconcieved notions about non site built housing. If we truly are going to have affordable housing, we're going to have to start thinking "outside the box". This is an excellant example. If cars were built like todays homes they would be bought or fabricated one piece at a time and built in your local garage. Obviously a very inefficiant way of doing things. Like cars homes can be factory built yet be very attractive. Put preasure on local politicians to allow new innovative housing to be constructed rather than tract subdivisions.
Monday, September 21, 2009 2:42AM
i saw the article in this month's dwell magazine and it got my interest. i'll definitely be keeping tabs on this eco design development..
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 12:59PM
[...] 10 Brilliant, Boxy and Sustainable Shipping Container Homes Posted In: Graphic Design [...]
Saturday, September 26, 2009 1:55AM
For the last year or so I’ve been interested in having a container home built for myself. I love the idea of using a steel box, like legos. But there is one small problem, I live in Massachusetts. For the last 6 months many people told me that this state is not ready for homes made out of containers. “It would have been done by now.” I was told. I’ve looked all over the net, trying to find something, anything in MA about building a container home. I found nothing. I’m just not ready to go down to the building permits office and asked a bunch questions about building a home out of container units. Now, my question to anyone out there. Do MA have any rules, laws, codes or any walls of discouragement in building a home out of shipping container units? __
Monday, October 12, 2009 8:52PM
I JUST WANT TO SAY WHEN I FIRST SEEN THESE HOUSES I WAS STUNED THIS IS SO AMAZING I WOULD HAVE NEVER THOUGHT THAT I CAN LIVE IN A CANTAINER LIKE THIS I REALLY LOVE THE REDONDO BEACH HOUSE BEAUTIFUL I WANT ONE…SMILE
Friday, October 30, 2009 6:09PM
It's nice to see that people are finally starting to appreciate these container homes for their potential. The Austrian Escape Mobile is by far the most simplistic and elegant container home design I've seen in a while. I've been working on starting a container home design business here in Asheville, NC. Hopefully as more and more of these dwell boxes get built It'll make my job that much easier. If anyone would like to see some of my container home designs, just go to BigBoomBlog.com and search for Shipping Container Homes.
Thanks,
Boomer Sassmann
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 3:15PM
I would be really depressed if I had to live in any of these. Sorry
Wednesday, December 22, 2010 6:33PM
I agree. What the people with preconceived notions (building officials, etc) don;t realize is that there are very few homes built from entirely on-site materials. Lumber is raised on a timber farm, milled off-site, all the components are trucked in, etc, etc. Imagine having a container house like one of these (even if it includes several containers) built entirely off-site, and helicoptered in. No traffic created, few truck trips, no 6 -12 months of construction disrupting the neighborhood (of course site prep has to be done, but we;re talking a couple weeks). This is the way to go…
Thursday, March 24, 2011 8:03PM
THIS SHOULD BE TEH 1ST OPTION FOR REBUILDING DISASTER STRICKEN PLACES LIKE HAITI…WHY ISN;T MORE OF THIS AVAILABLE FOR THOSE IN NEED???
Wednesday, September 14, 2011 6:38AM
Those container buildings are really awesome. i love them so much. In some months, when I have enough money i will start building my own.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011 6:38AM
There is the added benefit of transporting many extra materials inside the home for site. Ok lumber has to be moved etc. but all readily available and can be pre-loaded into the containers before delivery. This saves on fuel, at the same time the modular housing,factories and other container projects have already been in existance for decades. Only difference is now hopefully its going mainstream.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011 7:00AM
Its amazing how stuff that would otherwise get thrown out can be transformed into magic with a touch of creativity. Bravo!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 2:07AM
[...] enough condo into a creativity incubator. A friend of mine in Colorado is building his place out of shipping containers. A family bought the library in my childhood hometown and turned in into a gorgeous house. In my [...]
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 6:50AM
I love them jeeeezzzz. Never thought of owning a house. But at the look of these … i will definite someday lol
Tuesday, May 1, 2012 2:57PM
Great ideas! With imagination simple container can be converted to cozy home.
Thursday, May 3, 2012 12:59PM
Check out http://www.dwellbox.com if you're interested in shipping containers. They are based out of Asheville NC. and they have some great ideas. They are currently working on patents for shipping container homes right now.