12 Homes Made From Shipping Containers
Photo by Braden Gunem
Shipping containers meet a variety
of requirements: Modern. Check. Low-cost. Check.
Environmentally-friendly. Check. See twelve homes that make them work
and check out our resources for shipping container builders and plans at
the end of the article.
Above: Two shipping containers flank a taller common space in this residence designed by
Studio H:T.
The bedrooms are in the containers while the entry, dining, living, and
a loft is in the center area. The project is planned to be off-the-grid
using solar orientation, passive cooling, green roofs, pellet stove
heating, and photovoltaics to create electricity.
Photo by Andres Garcia Lachner
Benjamin Garcia Saxe Architecture
designed this orange container home for clients in San Jose, Costa
Rica. The goal was to provide them with the spectacular views of the
natural landscape. The roof between the two containers is made from the
scrap metal.
Copenhagen-based architecture firm
arcgency
created the “WFH House” in Wuxi, China, out of three stacked shipping
containers. Upcycled steel shipping containers were used for a steel
frame, which was then clad with a sustainable bamboo facade. The home
includes a rainwater collection system, solar cell-clad green roof,
skylights, and permeable paving.
Photo courtesy of the Walker Art Center
This structure, which was exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American
Art in New York City and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis is called
the MDU, or Mobile Dwelling Unit, and was designed by
Lot-EK.
It is meant to travel with its dweller to long term destinations. When
traveling, its sub-volumes are pushed in to fill the entire container,
and then interlock so the container is left flush and can be shipped
worldwide. When in use, the sub-volumes are pushed out, and its
500-square-foot interior is suitable for living and working.
Photo by Paul Warchol
Lot-EK
also designed this 1,500-square-foot penthouse apartment in New York
City. The project involved transforming a mechanical room and adding a
bedroom with a patio on the roof. Pictured above is a yellow aluminum
container that has been partially deconstructed to become an open
outdoor space.
Photo by Jack Thompson
Note the white corrugated wall; that should tip you off that this is
the interior of a shipping container home. In fact, this Houston
residence is composed of three containers, to make a total of
1,538-square feet of living space. Architect Christopher Robertson of
local firm
Robertston Design says one of the goals was to make it feel like a typical home.
Poteet Architects,
a firm known for its adaptive reuse of existing buildings, designed
this 32-square-foot guest house in San Antonio, Texas using a shipping
container. The interior is lined with bamboo plywood for the floor and
the walls and the deck is made out of recycled soda bottles. It has a
planted roof too.
The emerald green-accented Crossbox house in Brittany, France was designed by
CG Architects.
Two shipping containers are cantilevered above two more, and there’s a
planted roof too. Like traditional setups, the bedrooms are on top and
the living/dining spaces below.
Cove Park, located on 50-acres of Scotland’s west coast, is a community of established artists. In 2002,
Container City created three cubes made of shipping containers to act as artist retreats, and another six were added in 2006.
This
Adam Kalkin Container House
in Califon, New Jersey, is three shipping containers wide by two
shipping containers tall. Glass on two sides allows ample light to shine
in, and the industrial materials continue throughout, with a concrete
floor and steel beams and columns. Rustic fir flooring and mahogany
closing doors ensures it works in its wooded surroundings.
This perfectly simple, wood clad, absolutely horizontal 40-foot cargo
container house sits on a flat site in the Galician countryside
of Spain. Its porch and removable awning allow for outdoor enjoyment,
which is ideal since it’s a summer house. It was designed by architects
Severo Fernández and Basilio RodrÃguez of
Estudio Base.
Maziar Behrooz Architecture
designed this 840-square-foot art studio next to the client’s house in
the summer enclave of the Hamptons on Long Island, New York. They used
two shipping containers which were painted dark charcoal to match the
main house; both blend into the surrounding woods.
