Container Living

One of the hottest trends in “green” design is recycling material for a new use.  While the act of recycling is nothing new, container housing takes it to a whole new level. 

So, what is container housing you might ask?  It is turning an old shipping container into a beautiful, livable space.  Yes, that’s right, an old shipping container.  I liken this style of building to the adult version of Lego blocks.

A standard shipping container is 40 feet in length, 7 feet tall and 7 feet wide.  Each standard container is always the same, which makes them very handy for stacking and putting them together in unusual ways.

The process of converting a container into a livable space is not an easy one.  First, a decommissioned container must be thoroughly inspected for any structural imperfections or defects.  A container that is selected for conversion must be able to withstand the natural elements as well as the demands placed on it for human living. It must also be able to stack as well as carry the load of any other containers placed on it.  Shipping containers are designed to carry a heavy load, as they can be stacked 10 high on the decks of mega freighters.

After a container has passed the inspection process, it must be completely cleaned and stripped – the plank flooring must be removed and the walls must be scrubbed in a harsh chemical bath to ensure that no dangerous toxins become part of the new home.

Once the container can be used as construction material, the decision must be made as to how to use it.  Is it going to be a stand alone unit, or will two be placed side by side to make a double wide?  Will they be stacked up – if so, how many high?  From there, the interior must be designed, and this is where the real challenge begins. 

When designing the interior of the container space, you must realize that for the most part, you are constricted to a set parameter of space – there is no expansion unless you want to add additional containers.

For my first study in container construction, I decided to go with a 2 bedroom, 2 ½ bathroom design with a full kitchen and living room spread over two levels.  Therefore, I used 4 containers to create the full space.  The first two containers as set side by side to create the living room, kitchen, kitchen bar, half bathroom and staircase.  The second level consists of a master bedroom with a full bathroom and a second bedroom with its own full bathroom with a stand-up shower. I decided to stagger all of the containers for two reasons:

1. To allow for multiple balconies and patios.

2. To make the entire unit more visually appealing. 

One of the biggest challenges in container design is that you are already starting with a box, which in and of itself could be very boring to look at.  In order to make this design more interesting, I felt that it was important to set each container slightly askew from the one before it.  In the context of a full complex of container homes, the overall effect becomes quite pleasing to look at.

Here are the images of my design (more can be seen on my site – I will be posting them very shortly):

 

Container design is certainly not my creation or my brainchild – at all.  This trend began in London with Container City 1.  Since then, many of these container cities have started springing up all over Europe, and now, they are starting to catch on here in the United States. 

You can read more about container city here: www.containercity.com/home.html.

I am trying to throw my hat in the ring as a designer and renderer of these structures to companies in the U.S. that are starting to get involved in this type of construction.  Wish me luck!