Shipping Container House

Inhabit.com


Architecture
Deceiving Shipping Container Home That Doesn’t Look Like One
by Bridgette Meinhold, 07/16/10
filed under: Architecture, Sustainable Building


If we hadn't told you this was a shipping container house, would you have known?? With a contemporary classic style, regular-looking facade and huge light-filled windows, this lovely home in Richmond, California, designed by Leger Wanaselja Architects, is a great example of the beautiful work that can done with shipping containers. You may like the industrial look of the container, but if you're into a more traditional look, this is the house for you! Check out the interior shots of this deceiving home - they give you a really good idea of the available space.

Built out of three insulated shipping containers and stacked on two levels with a two-story atrium in the middle, this home packs a lot into a small footprint. Coming in at only 1,350 sq feet, the home has three good sized bedrooms, and a large open living room which connects into the long kitchen and dining room. Two 40′ containers are stacked on top of each other serving as the master bedroom on top and a kitchen/dining area on the ground floor. The other container is cut in half and stacked to create two more bedrooms. Between the stacks is a large two story living area with floor to ceiling windows and a staircase and bridge to connect to the rooms upstairs.

Solar passively designed, deep roof eaves were used to protect from summer solar gain and operable windows were used to maximize ventilation. As the containers are already insulated, they act as weatherproof exterior siding, insulation, and structural frame. Insulation was only needed in the roof and flooring and framing was only done on interior walls and for the windows. Additional green features include the use of low VOC paints, a 100% wool carpet, bamboo flooring, a 50% flyash concrete foundation, blown-in cellulose insulation, stacked plumbing, roof rainwater collection, high efficiency lighting, solatubes, and a ton more green features which you can see here: http://www.greenrenter.com/building/258/richmond_ca/casa-verdanta

+ Leger Wanaselja Architects

Via Re-Nest

photo credits: Jan Grygier

Read more: Shipping Container House by Leger Wanaselja Architects | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World




more... http://inhabitat.com/2010/07/16/fantastic-california-home-surprisingly-made-from-shipping-containers/

Videos: http://shipping-container-house-yurt.phanfare.com/2008/






More: shipping-container-house-yurt.phanfare.com/2663041_2903644#imageID=45573887

The Art of Container Construction

Container Home Construction Explained:

Construction with used shipping containers has made incredible advances over the past few years. It's no longer uncommon to see stories about shipping container homes on the evening news and the Internet will lead you to dozens of drawings and renderings of cargo container home concepts.

Given today's economic conditions more and more people are getting serious about saving on construction costs, reducing maintenance, and keeping more equity in their pockets. So, when it becomes possible to build a sleek, secure, modern home with the classic good looks of the case study homes of the mid 20th Century, for a fraction of the cost of traditional construction, people get interested.

But, even with all this interest, you will quickly find out that it's still virtually impossible to get any concrete information on learning how to design and build with used shipping containers.

Shipping Container Home Design:

Because their standard design and modular nature, shipping containers provide a flexibility that makes them almost irresistible to anyone with an eye for design. If you have found this web site and have read this far it's probably because you see the ecological sense and simplicity of this method of building. You may even have a design of your own in mind, if you do, wouldn't it be helpful to have an affordable way to play around with various floor plans, to be able to look at the layout in three dimensions, perhaps even adding people and landscaping for perspective?

Con-Structure provides you with the hard information necessary to learn all of the steps of designing and building with used shipping containers. Including the 3D CAD programs you will need to get up to speed right away. ...(more)

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It's something to buy; haven't seen it but perhaps it's worth a try:
http://container4home.com/

Shipping Container Size & Dimensions

http://secure4.data-comm.com/servlet/FW/-strse-131/45-Foot-High-Cube/Detail

45HC USED High Cube Shipping Container Cargo Worthy Steel

45' Storage Container High Cube Cargo Worthy Shipping or Storage Container For Sale Standard Steel Especially for light voluminous cargo and overheight cargo up to maximum 2.70 m 8 ft 10 in see table Numerous lashing devices on the top and bottom longitudinal rails and the corner posts Lashing devices have a permissible load of 1000 kg 2205 Ibs each Consider overheight for inland transportation Note permissable weight limits for road and rail transport

SKU: 45HCSCCW-S

Price: $1,720.50

Shipping Container Architecture

Copyright © 2002-2009 by Zack Smith.
All rights reserved.

Introduction
This is a webpage devoted to listing as many examples of people using shipping containers as architectural elements as I can find, in an effort to embolden people to use containers in building projects, when and where doing so is feasible and appropriate. Be aware that containers are not a perfect building material, since they tend to corrode, but they have been used effectively in some cases, especially in areas near saltwater. This is mainly a links page, and I cannot guarantee anything at all about the sites that I am offering links to, but I try to periodically search for and add links that are fresh and offer something useful and interesting, and I remove bad links and projects where information is incomplete. If you have a site worth adding, or experiences to relate in using containers for building, please contact me.

firmitas.org

Shipping Container Homes and Offices

http://www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/containerbayhome.htm

[add photos & links]

http://weburbanist.com/2008/05/26/cargo-container-homes-and-offices/



http://dornob.com/diy-used-cargo-homes-shipping-container-house-plans/

10 Clever Architectural Creations Using Cargo Containers: Shipping Container Homes and Offices

By Urbanist in Architecture & Design, Environment & Nature, Featured Articles, Urban Everything, Urban Images, Various

(Check out our complete collection of 70 Works of Recycled Art and Design.)

With the green theme growing in popularity across every stretch of the world, more and more people are turning to cargo container homes for green alternatives for office, and even new home, construction. There are countless numbers of empty, unused shipping containers around the world just sitting on the shipping docks and taking up space. The reason for this is that it’s too expensive for a country to ship empty containers back to the their origin in most cases, it’s just cheaper to buy new containers from Asia. The result is an extremely high surplus of empty shipping containers that are just waiting to become someone’s home or office. Design, buy or build your shipping container home today!

Shipping Container Architecture
There are plenty of benefits of to the so-called shipping container architecture model. A few of these advantages include: they are plentiful, they are easily transported, they’re stackable, relatively inexpensive (as little as $900 for a used container), they can be prefabricated, and they’re extremely durable. Residential applications are also becoming a popular topic of conversation among green supporters. The first official 2-story shipping container home in the US was designed by Southern California architect Peter DeMaria in 2006. The only big obstacle that he encountered during construction of his shipping container pad was making sure that the house passed all of the strict guidelines of the Uniform Building Code (UBC).

Shipping Container House
In other parts of the world, places like Odessa, Ukraine already have the the biggest shopping mall in all of Europe which uses stacked shipping containers to form alleys throughout the 170 acre site. In Asia, the Dordoy Bazaar in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan is almost entirely composed of empty shipping containers stacked two high and chock-full of inexpensive trinkets and toys. So, in other words, shipping container architecture is nothing new, but it is new when it comes to residential and office applications.


This great example of shipping container architecture was created by architects Pieter Peelings and Silvia Mertens of Sculp(IT). They live and work in these shipping containers which are stacked four high. The entire space is 2.4 meters wide by 5.5 meters deep by 12 meters high. The bottom floor is used for work, dining room is located on the second floor, relaxation room on the third, and spectacular rooftop views from the fourth – including a relaxing spa.


This award-winning office design by Clive Wilkinson is made out of stacked shipping containers is the home office of Palotta TeamWorks, a US charity event company. The 47,000 square foot warehouse is filled with shipping containers that have been transformed into modern office spaces. This design layout saved the company a ton of money on construction costs, and it allowed the entire space to be more open and airy.


The world’s first hotel built from recycled shipping containers has popped-up in Uxbridge, West London. Each prefabricated container comes fully-equipped with fixtures, furniture, and windows from a factory in China. The company, called Travelodge, says that constructing a hotel this way is 25% faster and 10% cheaper than the more traditional construction methods. Also, construction is much quicker, because all that has to be done is to fit each container together like it was a giant Lego set. Rooms at this London hotel start at about ï¿¡19 per night. The London area may see more these ‘portable hotels’ pop-up around the city as the 2012 Olympics approaches.


Opened in 1998, the Simon’s Town High School Hostel is constructed almost entirely of used shipping containers. This amazing place is constructed out of 40 large shipping containers to be exact, and it’s big enough to accommodate up to 120 boarders. The hostel manager gets his own 2 bedroom flat, while the other staff share 2 separate flatlets. Area residents were concerned that the project would prove to be an eyesore to the community since it was made from grungy old shipping containers, but the final result proved otherwise with a modern-looking structure that is incredibly durable and aesthetically pleasing at the same time.


This shipping container home from the so-called Zigloo Domestique project in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada is a residential home created by Keith Dewey. The home is built out of old shipping containers, and the owner chose to paint them with an industrial strength minty-green enamel, commonly found on shipping containers today, in order to maintain the container’s roots in the shipping business. While the exterior of the home may look a little rugged, due to the protruding containers, the 2,000 square foot interior of the house is quite comfortable and modern. The project cost about $150 per square foot, compared to a similar quality traditional construction project that can cost about $250 per square foot.


This stunning home is almost like a piece of art that you can live in. Constructed using 12 recycled shipping containers, the 12 container home home has all of the modern conveniences of a traditionally built home but with a unique element of style as well. A modern kitchen, huge wide-open floor plan, and gigantic windows that bring in tons of natural lighting are just a few of the great features of this home – plus, construction costs were relatively inexpensive when compared to traditional construction.


This 2,000 square foot home, built in 2001, is actually built around a smaller cottage-style house that has stood in that location for decades. The cottage house almost looks like a gigantic version of a dollhouse inside of the huge storage shed that forms the exterior of this innovative house. The 3 bedroom 2.5 bath home is also made from 5 large shipping containers – 3 on the bottom, and 2 stacked on top of those. This place also contains all of the modern features of a ‘normal’ home, but it’s supposedly built to last much longer. The creator of this innovative home is Adam Kalkin, and he’s actually selling these homes for as little as $76,000, or less than $100 per square foot – not a bad deal considering traditional construction of a new home averages about double that amount.


This 3,000 square foot L.A. home features multiple storage containers in its design – each with its own purpose. There’s a storage container for the entertainment area, library, dining room/office space, master bedroom, and bathroom/laundry room. This place has plenty of large windows which provide plenty of natural lighting as well as awesome views of the garden and koi pond outside. Aside from using recycled storage containers, this home also uses recycled steel scraps in its construction which further adds to the green vibe that this home resonates – not to mention saved a ton of money on construction costs.
Next: More Awesome Shipping Container Homes
And: Design or Buy Shipping Container Homes

Also see natural phenomena, oddities & wonders on WebEcoist and view amazing architecture, incredible interiors, fantastic furniture and more dynamic designs at Dornob and find great gadgets, strange science and tech with a twist on Gajitz.

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2 Comments - Click Here to Converse

* jim
October 11th, 2009 at 8:08 pm

I love these homes they are modern and recyclable I sooo want one. Maybe when my new site http://www.vitaminalmanac.com and http://www.pillidentifier.net makes some money I can get one going here in Austin.


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Shipping Containers For Better Housing

HOME:Home-Improvement/New-Construction

Shipping Containers For Better Housing, By James Osborne-Johnson
Level: Basic


Dad was a Master Builder of the old school and known for his quality workmanship. When his teams built a house, it was solid, square and built to last. Before I could follow in his footsteps, the credit squeeze of the 1960's hit, he closed up shop and we went farming, but I have always been interested in developments in the building industry.

Traditional structures are built with frames of timber or steel, and with materials not as plentiful as they were, framing timbers are not the quality they used to be. I still have friends who are in the building game and one is a plasterboard fixer. These days one of his greatest frustrations is trying to hang plasterboard on frames that are not square and which have warping in the timbers. If the underlying structure is not square and flat, the finishing off cannot look as good as it should. He is often delayed in his work while the framers are called back to square up their work.

Consider also the time and material usage in building the frames, erecting and finishing them, all adding to the cost of he structure. Consider also the foundations of the traditional structure, the many stumps to stabilize the floor, or the concrete slab. Then there is the vermin proofing, and decay proofing to add to the costs.

Used shipping containers are built to carry payloads of 20 tons, across the oceans of the world, without distorting or corroding. They are built to precise measurements so that they can be stacked on top of each other, loaded onto trucks, trains and ships and precisely lock into place so they won't move in transit. They are designed so that they can carry their 20-ton payload supported by only the four corners of the container, without distorting and I repeat, they can be sacked on top of each other. They are sealed to be weather proof and secure to prevent break-in and theft.

Of course they have been used for storage sheds and offices on building sites for some time now, because they can be easily relocated without damaging them, They are designed to be lifted and moved by cranes and forklifts. In places like Papua New Guinea they are used as corner stores because of the security they offer as burglar proof, robber proof structures. They are built to be secure.

Mining companies have seen the benefits of using shipping containers as housing for their workers at mine sites for some time as they can be fitted out at a workshop, transported to a mine site and quickly installed and inhabited.

Recently there has been some discussion that the use of shipping containers as housing might be a useful alternative for housing the poor and homeless, but the criticism has been that this will crate ghettos of substandard housing, creating more problems than would be solved.

I would suggest that the humble shipping container represents the greatest revolution in the building industry for some time. As other materials are becoming less available and the issues outlined above persist and increase, shipping containers, which have outlived their original purpose, litter dockyards around the world. They are ready made housing modules, awaiting discovery and use. They are economical building blocks, more solid and durable than traditional materials and methods, which can be erected faster and more accurately than our current styles of housing.

When set on solid foundations, they are cyclone/hurricane proof, would survive earthquakes and landslides better and can be used either above or below ground level.

Of course there are some limitations. Modules predominately come in 8-foot widths and either 10 or 40-foot lengths. Cutting them smaller would compromise their design strength. They already come at standard ceiling height for housing. However, sidewalls can be opened up for wider living areas, but designs need to be multiples of the standard dimensions of shipping containers. And of course, they look like shipping containers, unless of course, with a little imagination, you clad them as you would any other form of housing. And there will be some building authorities for whom these are outside their ability to perceive the benefits and approve.

Realistically the limitations are only our lack of imagination in utilizing these amazing building blocks for safer, environmentally friendlier, more economical shipping container housing. They have been approved as housing structures and additions in various authorities around the world and any change takes some effort to bring about.

For those who can catch the vision, here is an opportunity waiting to be explored further.

Sir James Osborne-Johnson long time owner/developer of http://www.captainslacko.com/ along with the beautiful, Lady Toni Osborne-Johnson we are building our personal wealth through multiple streams of passive income. Using only proven strategies from Millionaire Mentors who have amassed their wealth from nothing, we eliminate many of the mistakes they have made and accelerate our personal wealth growth. Saving on costs is one way to create investment funds and one way to do this on housing is explored at http://www.shippingcontainerhousingonline.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Osborne-Johnson

http://ezinearticles.com/?Shipping-Containers-For-Better-Housing&id=1414220

James Osborne-Johnson - EzineArticles Expert Author

Article Submitted On: August 15, 2008