Who Built The First Shipping

Container Home?
If we look for the first official record of a shipping container home we find a man
named Phillip Clark. On Monday 23rd November 1987, Clark filed a patent called
the“Method for converting one or more steel shipping containers into a habitable
building”.

Within the patent Clark outlines how shipping containers can be sited on a
weight-bearing foundation to create a habitable building. He claimed that
shipping containers make the perfect modular building material. He also
commented that reused shipping containers can be used to make homes
economically.

It took two years for the patent to be granted, and on Tuesday 8 th August 1989,
Clark was presented with his approved patent #US4854094A. If you are interest
the original patent can be view here.
So where did Phillip Clark get his idea from? Was he the first ever person to think
that shipping containers could be used to build homes?

Far from it. Just 2 years before Clark‘s patent was filed, shipping containers
made their way on to the big screen. In 1985, in the film Space Rage, shipping
containers were used to make numerous buildings on the production set.

However, we can go further back than that to the 1970‘s where UK architect
Nicholas Lacey wrote his university thesis on the concept of reusing shipping
containers and turning them into habitable dwellings (Source).

1. Tony‘s Organic Food Farm, 2011 – Shanghai

source: http://retaildesignblog.net/2013/02/08/shipping-containers-tonys-farm-
organic-food-farm-by-playze-shanghai-2/
 2. The Box Office, 2009 – Rhode Island
source: http://inhabitat.com/the-box-office-recycles-32-shipping-containers-into-
12-colorful-offices-in-providence/the-box-office-distill-studio-1/?extend=1

3. Riverside Building Offices, 2005 – London

source: http://www.containercity.com/projects/the-riverside-building

4. Royal Wolf Head Office, 2013 – Australia

source: http://www.royalwolf.com.au/

5. The Sugoroku Office, 2012 – Japan

Source: http://www.treehugger.com/modular-design/architects-offices-built-out-
shipping-containers.html

6. Timber Container CC4441, 2014 – Tokyo

Source: http://thykw.com/

7. Cove Park, 2006 – Scotland

Source: http://www.containercity.com/projects/cove-park

8. The Wanaselja Office, 2014 – Oakland

Source: http://www.jetsongreen.com/2014/01/architect-couple-build-a-backyard-
office-from-a-shipping-container.html

However, we can still find earlier examples of shipping containers being used as
buildings. The earliest official record we could find was 1962.

On Friday 12th October 1962 Insbrandtsen Company Inc filed a patent

titled„Combination shipping container and showcase‟. Within this patent,
Christopher Betjemann was listed as the inventor and it states that shipping
containers can be used as an exhibition booth when companies are touring and
showcasing their products.
The patent (US3182424 A) was granted on Tuesday 11th May 1965.
Why did building with shipping
containers become a trend?
So within ten years of shipping containers being created, people had the idea to
create buildings with them, but why?

Well here in the US we import a lot more than we export- so when goods are
shipped into the country we aren‘t using the shipping container to export our
goods back. This means that there is a surplus of shipping containers. Just how
much of a surplus?

Well according to the US Department of Transportation: Maritime Administration,

in 2012 the US imported 17,541,120 TEUs yet only exported 11,935,906
(Source). A TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) is a unit of measurement; 1 TEU is
the equivalent to 1 standard 20 foot shipping container.

This means there was surplus the equivalent of more than 5 million 20-foot
shipping containers. Now clearly not every shipping container is left in the US- it
would be worthwhile shipping new containers back to Asia to use again but a
considerable number of containers are left in the US.

This trend has been occurring for many years and we have taken a snapshot of
the available data from the US Department of Transportation: Maritime
Administration for the last five years

So we have a big surplus of shipping containers in the US, could we not just recycle
them?
Well a standard 40 foot shipping containers weight 8,820 pounds. To melt down
this much steel would take around 8000 kWh of energy, nearly the same amount
of energy as a US household uses each year (Source).
The average amount of energy used to convert a shipping container into a home
takes around 400 kwh, so around a 95% reduction when compared to melting
down the steel.

So building with shipping containers is environmentally friendly, but not only that,
we know that building shipping container homes can be significantly cheaper
than traditional homes. In our blog post on ‗How Much Do Shipping Container
Homes Cost‘ we lifted the lid off homes which have been built for less than
$100,000!

Shipping containers turning mainstream

So we know that people had the idea to build shipping container homes way
back in the 1980‘s and that there is, and has been, a surplus of shipping
containers here in the US. But how did shipping container homes turn into
a mainstream trend?

Well we already know that the US army helped establish the shipping container
as the standard method of transporting goods on ships (we spoke about
this here). During the Vietnam War the US government were looking for a quicker
way to ship goods, this is when they adopted the shipping container and its
popularity took off after that.
But how did the US army help to put shipping container homes on the map?

During the Gulf War the US army used shipping containers as emergency
shelters because they could be quickly converted and easily fortified. Containers
were fortified by placing sandbags against the external walls of the containers;
this helped to protect against rocket propelled grenades.
After this in 1994 Stewart Brand, an American writer, published a book title „How
Buildings Learn‟. In it, Brand goes on to write ideas about how to convert
shipping containers into office space. This was the first real publication which
mentions building with shipping containers.
From here shipping container homes started to gain moment and the first
completed build we could find on record was the ‗The Simon‘s Town High School
Hostel‘.

The Simon‟s Town High School Hostel

The project was conceived when Safmarine donated 40 used shipping container
to Simon‘s Town High School.

The school wanted to use the containers to build a hostel which was capable of
housing 120 people at any given time.

The project cost a total of $227,000 and was ready for its first lodgers on the
30thNovember 1998.

Image Source: NewEden

At the time of construction it was the largest shipping container building in the
world.
21st Century Shipping Container Homes
Following the success of the Simon‘s Town High School Hostel, in 2006 Peter
DeMaria a Californian architect designed the first shipping container home in the
US.

Known as the Redondo Beach House, the home was approved under the
national Uniform Building Code and was completed in 2007. This was the first
‗real‘ shipping container home.

Since then we‘ve seen shipping container homes popping up all over the world!
Some of the more famous ones include:

Container Guest House (2010)

This home was designed by Texas architect Jim Poteet. It utilises a used 40 foot
shipping container which provides around 320 square foot of living space.

Source: Poteet Architects

Containers of Hope (2011)
Renowned for its incredible cost savings, containers of hope was built in Costa
Rica for around $40,000. The home was built using two shipping containers and
is passively cooled with a sloped roof.
Source: Benjamin Garcia Saxe
The Caterpillar House (2012)
This home was designed by Sebastián Irarrázaval and was built in Chile. In total
the home used 12 containers and is 3,800 square foot. It was built on a hillside
just outside of Santiago- so I‘m sure the owners get some incredible views!

Source: Sebastián Irarrázaval

The popularity of shipping container homes continues to rise and there appears
to be no stopping these sustainable, affordable homes.
Shipping Container Dimensions
The world of containers can be surprisingly daunting at times; I mean just
considering shipping container dimensions we are met with such a variety of
containers: 20ft, 40ft, high cube, refrigerated, open-top, platform, tank … you get
the idea! So today we‘ve decided to simplify this and document the most
common shipping containers and their dimensions so you can make a decision
about which type and size of containers you will use to build your home with.

By far the two most popular containers you will come across are the regular 20
foot shipping container and the regular 40 foot shipping container; the majority of
this article will focus on these two containers.

20 Foot Shipping Container Dimensions

The standard 20ft shipping container is a popular pick for many people who
decide to build a home out of shipping containers. They are easier to manoeuvre
and due their size can be easily combined and modified to create exceptional
living spaces.

We can see the size of this shipping container below:

o External Length: 19′ 10″ | 6.06m

o Width: 8′ 0″ | 2.44m
o Height: 8′ 6″ | 2.60m
o Internal Length: 19′ 2″ | 5.84m
o Width: 7′ 8″ | 2.35m
o Height: 7′ 9 ″ | 2.39m
o Internal Area of Container: 144 Square Foot | 13.3 Square Meters
o Door Opening Width: 7′ 8″ | 2.34m
o Door Opening Height: 7′ 5″ | 2.28m
o Internal Volume: 1,169ft³| 33.1m³
o Weight: 4,840lb | 2,200kg

Advantages and Disadvantages of 20ft Containers

The 20ft containers have a distinct advantage over the 40ft containers and that is
that they are significantly easier to transport and manoeuvre. If you‘re thinking of
building a container home in a remote, difficult to access location, then the 20ft
container is probably the best bet for you! They are also cheaper than the 40ft
containers to the tune of several thousand dollars per container; so if you are on
a limited budget then it‘s likely that the 20ft containers will be better for you (they
are also cheaper to transport)!
However, the 20ft containers don‘t come without their disadvantages. Firstly,
each container offers a floor space of around 144 square foot so if you need a
larger room your only option would be to combine two containers together which
would require additional time, organisation, and expense. Secondly, although
individually they are cheaper than 40ft containers, their price per square foot is
actually more expensive. So if you are considering building a considerable sized
container home, and your plot of land has good access, the 40ft containers will
be better for you.

40 Foot Shipping Container Dimensions

The most common shipping container is the 40ft container and the majority of
large shipping container homes have utilised these containers. They offer
exceptional value for money and considerable internal space. We have detailed
the dimensions of the container below for your reference.
o External Length: 40′ 0″ | 12.2m
o Width: 8′ 0″ | 2.44m
o Height: 8′ 6″ | 2.60m
o Internal Length: 39′ 5″ | 12.03m
o Width: 7′ 8″ | 2.35m
o Height: 7′ 9 ″ | 2.39m
o Internal Area of Container: 300 Square Foot | 28 Square Meters
o Door Opening Width: 7′ 8″ | 2.34m
o Door Opening Height: 7′ 5″ | 2.28m
o Internal Volume: 2,385ft³| 67.5m³
o Weight: 8,360lb | 3,800kg

Advantages and Disadvantages of 40ft Containers

Owing to the 40ft containers size, it offers a fantastic internal space of over 300
square foot. We‘ve previously shown in, How Much Do Shipping Container
Homes Cost, examples of homes which have been made from using only one of
these 40ft containers. Another advantage you have when using the 40ft
containers is that they represent greater value for money overall when compared
to a 20ft container. Because they are considerably longer you have the option to
divide the container up into multiple rooms which you couldn‘t do with the smaller
20ft containers. ―Heavy Tested‖ containers can hold over 30,000kg so you
shouldn‘t have to worry about what ornaments you place inside it!
Finally, because they are larger you typically need fewer of them so delivering
and laying them in place is quicker.

However, 40ft containers are more expensive to transport, and delivering these
to remote locations and be challenging. In addition they are also difficult to
manoeuvre so make sure you know exactly where you want them placing on
your land before they get delivered.
So there you have it, you should have a good understanding now of the
dimensions of both the regular 20ft and the regular 40ft container. However as
mentioned earlier these aren‘t the only type of container that are available to
purchase.

Other Shipping Containers

High Cube Containers
If you are looking for slightly more height for your home then a great option is
what‘s known as a ‗high cube container‘. High cube containers have the same
width and length dimensions as the regular containers listed above, except they
are an extra foot (0.3m) taller. This extra height will allow you to place all your
electrical cabling, water pipes etc, into your ceiling and still maintain a roof height
of eight foot. However high cube containers aren‘t as common as the regular
containers so you tend to pay a higher price-tag for them.

20ft High Cube Container Dimensions:

o Internal Length: 19′ 2″ | 5.84m

o Width: 7′ 8″ | 2.35m
o Height: 8′ 8″ | 2.64m
o Door Opening Width: 7′ 8″ | 2.34m
o Door Opening Height: 8′ 4″ | 2.54m
40ft High Cube Container Dimensions:

o Internal Length: 39′ 5″ | 12.03m

o Width: 7′ 8″ | 2.35m
o Height: 8′ 8″ | 2.64m
o Door Opening Width: 7′ 8″ | 2.34m
o Door Opening Height: 8′ 4″ | 2.54m
Open Top Containers
Open top containers are pretty self-explanatory, they are essentially the exact
same as the containers mentioned above except they don‘t have a roof on them.
You can get open top containers in both the regular 20ft or 40ft size and also 20ft
high cube and the 40ft high cube sizes. Open top containers aren‘t typically used
when building container homes because they need modifying in order to be
habitable… they need a roof!

US 45 Foot Containers
The last variant of shipping containers we are going to discuss today is the 45
foot container, which is mostly used in the US. The 45 foot container shares the
same dimensions as the 40 foot containers with regards to its width and height
however it‘s an additional five feet longer. We‘d normally say if you aren‘t
desperate for the room, then don‘t go out of your way and spend more money for
the extra 5 foot unless it‘s an absolute must for you!

Some Concluding Remarks

We hope you are now in the best place possible to think about selecting the
container type, or types, that you are going to be using. There are no hard and
fast rules when selecting your container, however sometimes your locality means
only certain types of containers are available or it means you can access a
promotional price which makes the decision for you!

Also remember that manufactures have slightly different tolerance levels,

normally +-5mm, so make sure you contact the supplier to get the exact
dimensions. All shipping containers should be made in compliance with ISO
668:2013 – Series 1 freight containers — Classification, dimensions and ratings,
so take a look at the standards if you need classification information.

Should You Build With New or Used

Shipping Containers?
Advantages of a New Shipping Container
A brand new shipping container will range from $2,500-$5,000, depending on
where you buy it from and the size/style.

The massive advantage of a new shipping container is the peace of mind you‘ll
have when you sleep in your container home that it has never been sprayed or
treated with harsh chemicals to protect it from the seawater, and also that it
wasn‘t used to carry toxic goods.

A new shipping container also gives you the choice of how it is made and the
size of the container.

You can also customize the inside of your container- such as fitting a custom
wooden floor the way you want it. This saves you time modifying the container
when you receive it.
The often unspoken benefit of buying new containers is their availability.
Because you‘re buying them brand new, you can order exactly what you want. If
you are buying used container you sometimes have to take what you‘re given.
It‘s sometimes difficult to find used high cube containers.

Finally, new shipping containers will come with a guarantee- this is normally at
least 10 years. This means if something goes wrong with your new containers
(i.e. paint corrosion), you will be covered by the manufacturer.

We talk about this more in how long will my container home last for?

Disadvantages of a New Shipping Container

As mentioned earlier, a new shipping container ranges from $2,500-$5,000
making it up to three times more expensive than a used shipping container. This
money isn‘t recoverable and this is the cost of knowing what your containers
have been previously used for…

Another big disadvantage is new shipping container‘s take a long time to get
delivered as they are shipping from China. A used container can be bought the
day you are looking for it and be shipped to you within a week of purchasing it.
For people living in trading cities, it could be possible to have your used shipping
container delivered within a few days.

Whereas new containers can take upwards of 3 months to be delivered from

China.

Finally, and possibly the biggest disadvantage is they are not eco-friendly. You
are not recycling or reusing the container, you are making a shipping container
just to build your house with.

The shipping container would only be used for your home, rather than being
reused after it had been used to transport freight around the world.

Advantages of a Used Shipping Container

Used shipping containers can be bought for anywhere from $800-$2,000
depending on location and size. You can find indicative costs for containers here.
This will mean you can build your home far cheaper, however as we will discuss
later, there are drawbacks to used containers.

The second advantage of used containers is they are very easy to find and buy.

At any point in time around 6 million of these containers are travelling across the
ocean- leaving between 14 and 19 million at a port or unused.
If you were to go to eBay or Craigslist you would find a shipping container ready
to be shipped to you today. Because there are so many used shipping containers,
finding one to your preference and near you is easy and gives you the perk of
being able to start constructing your home sooner than if you were to buy a new
one.

Read our guide on how to purchase used containers for more information.
The biggest advantage of used containers however is that they are an eco-
friendly choice. You are removing an item that would otherwise be left to take up
space and spread toxins into the environment. With taking it to your place and
reconstructing it into your home you are helping the atmosphere and surrounding
environment. Many governments give tax breaks or credits when a home is
green, giving you another incentive to build with a used shipping container rather
than a new one.

Disadvantages of a Used Shipping Container

Unfortunate used shipping containers aren‘t a panacea.

An older shipping container may be rusted, have a damaged door, or be in a bad

condition due to pesticides, chemicals, and certain paint used for it to survive
the oceans.

To avoid this, make sure you see purchase shipping containers in person.
Whenever that is not possible (i.e. you are buying them online), it is encouraged
to ask for a video or zoomed in pictures so you can see what you are buying and
know how much work you will have.

The other disadvantage of used containers is that you don‘t know what they have
been used to transport. There are no international regulations requiring freight
companies and cargo ships to report exactly what is put into each container or
record exactly what happens throughout its journey.

The lack of history involved in buying a used shipping container sometimes

makes it a lottery when buying used containers. However, if you follow throughly
inspect the containers beforehand and sandblast them once you‘ve received
them they should be good to build with.
Surprising Uses for Shipping
Containers
Over the last couple of years we have seen some truly amazing uses of the
humble shipping container, people are really starting to see these containers as
fantastic building material! From swimming pools to art studios, the uses of
containers are only limited by what you can imagine. So let‘s get straight to the
top seven surprising uses of shipping containers.

1. Swimming Pool

In number one spot is the swimming pool. How cool, would that be to have a pool
in the back yard and better yet know it‘s made from a container! The first time I
saw this I was blown away; I don‘t know about you but looking at the picture I
couldn‘t even tell this pool was made from a shipping container.

The pool pictured is Stefan Beese‘s, an architect based in New Orleans,

brainchild. The pool is approximately 20 foot x 8 foot so you can certainly get
some decent exercise in here. Just in-case this isn‘t enough for you, the pool can
even be drained and transported to a new location if they ever move house!

Beese started by sourcing a container, stating it‘s important to find one without
rust and large dents in it, because this would be visible once the pools made.
Once the container was onsite, it was cleaned and sprayed with anti-corrosive
paint. Next step was to dig out a shallow hole to drop the container into and then
the hole needs lining with limestone to protect the soil. The container is then lined
with half inch insulation foam and a pool liner. The container was then dropped
into the hole and cladded with pine slats to cover up the steel. In total the pool
cost around $6,000 but Beese claims it could have cheaper if he did the labour
himself.

2. Hospital
Our second most surprising use for a shipping container is this incredible cardiac
surgery centre based just outside of Sudan close to the river Nile. The hospital
was built in 2013 using old shipping containers and its hot water is powered by
an on-site farm of solar panels.

Whilst local architects, TAMassociati Architecture, were designing the hospital

they were told about the containers already at the hospital. They took them as
inspiration and used them to construct the entire hospital. Over 100 shipping
containers were used in total, the majority of which were used for family and
hospital staff accommodation; of which there are over 63 hospital beds.
Each room has its own balcony looking out onto the hospital courtyards and the
rooms are kept cool in the summers using a ventilated steel roof and bamboo
blinds. The cardiac centre has been operational since 2007 and now performs
over 1,500 surgical procedures each year.

3. Restaurant
Now how many of you thought you‘d ever be eating a spicy Mexican burrito in a
shipping container that was once used to send TVs from china all over the world?
Wahaca, a Mexican restaurant based in London, launched a massive eight
container pop up restaurant in Southbank Center back in 2013. One of the
shipping containers has even been modified into a street stall so you can grab
your burrito to go!
Guests can either eat inside the shipping containers, which have huge glass
windows in them providing views out onto the Thames, or dinners can eat
outside. The inside of the restaurant was decorated with recycled benches
adding to the ‗upcycle‘ theme.

The pop up restaurant was used in a street art exhibition back in 2013 and fitted
in perfectly with other tourist attractions at Southbank, including the roof gardens
at Queen Elizabeth Hall and the world‘s largest solar panel bridge which cuts
over 500 tonnes of CO2 emissions each year.

4. Hotel
At fourth place is a hotel (or advertising billboard!) which is made entirely of steel
beams and shipping containers. Earlier last year we got a sneak peak at one of
Hong Kong‘s most anticipated hotels, the Hive Inn. It‘s designed by OVA Studio‘s
and will be over 20 containers high when it‘s finished.
The Hive Inn will be a modular design so rooms can literally be ‗traded in‘ or out
by the crane which will be based at the very top of the Hive. This will allow the
hotel to adapt and get bigger or smaller depending on the amount of containers
that are currently stacked inside it.

It‘s expected that once the Hive has been built there will be lots of advertising
opportunities for companies who want to place their own themed container within
the Hive. The inside of the container could also be branded providing fans of the
brand with a unique experience.

OVA Studio has also indicated that their design, on a smaller scale, lends itself to
emergency housing. The modular design could be used to give quickly build up
containers within the ‗hive‘ structure to provide housing.
5. School
The fith most surprising use for a shipping container is this school classroom
made for Vissershok Primary School in South Africa. The classroom was funded
by three companies in South Africa and was built in 2010. Since then the
classroom has received significant press coverage and has inspired numerous
other similar initiatives.
The shipping container is now the classroom for 25 first graders who live in
impoverish conditions in Dunoon, Cape Town. The classroom even doubles as a
library in the afternoon for the entire primary school!

The container has a huge roof which acts as a sunshade for the children in the
warm summer heat, it also allows air to blow through the top of the classroom
and cool them down. In addition to this there are several windows on the side of
the classroom that allows air to blow through the classroom to cool it down.

The classroom was built under budget so the rest of the sponsorship money was
spent on creating vegetable patches nearby which the children grow their own
vegetables in and get to keep them!

6. Art Studio
It‘s not often that you find an art studio that is arguably as good as the art inside
of it but this is the sixth surprising use of a shipping container; an art studio.
Fittingly called the container studio is it 840 square foot and was made out of two
high top 40 foot shipping containers.
This stunning building was designed by MB Architecture who are based in New
York. Andrea Shapiro, the artist who lives in Amagansett- New York, wanted an
affordable but spacious solution to house their artwork. The final product is a two
story art studio which was built using two shipping containers above ground and
to dig out a basement which was concreated and acts as the main studio room.

Their total budget was $60,000 and the picture art studio was delivered under
budget for $58,000. Each of the containers cost around $2,500 and this includes
the delivery costs. The art studio was completed in 2010 and is now open and is
located in the forests within Amagansett- New York.
7. An Office
Royal Wolf hire and sell shipping containers so it seems fitting their company
offices are made out of them! Back in 2013 they approached Room 11,
Australian architects, and they sat down and put this plan to paper.
The offices are made using both 40foot and 20foot containers and are arranged
in a giant rectangle which creates gaps in the middle of the office to make room
for four courtyards; nearly all the rooms within the office can see out onto a
courtyard.

The ends of the 40 foot containers have been cut out and replaced with
incredible glass windows which really allow a lot of light into the offices. The ends
were then used to double skin the walls to give the office more insulation. Paying
tribute to the shipping container Royal Wolf have left the ceiling of the containers
untouched so you can still see the exposed corrugated steel.

The offices were built in 2013 and are still a great spectacle and conversion
piece for everybody who visits them.

We hope you‘ve surprised by some of these fantastic uses of shipping containers

and can take some inspiration from them! If you‘ve seen any other great uses of
shipping containers be sure to let us know in the comments below; we‘d love to
hear from you.

Why Do People Live In Shipping

Container Homes?
An impressive 61.5% of people responded saying that they would live in a
shipping container home. This was followed by 25.1% of people replying that
they wouldn‘t live in a shipping container home; maybe they should read 6
Awesome Reasons Why You Should Have A Shipping Container Home!? Finally
13.4% of people responded saying that they hadn‘t heard of shipping container
homes- those poor souls!!

“61.5% of people want to live in a shipping container home”

Unfortunately the poll doesn‘t explain why people want to live in a container
home; it only asks them if they would. So, we decided we would dig a bit deeper
and find out exactly why people do and don‘t want to live in a shipping container
home.
What’s the appeal of containers?

1. Price
The most common response we received from our subscribers was price. They
said, they either live in a shipping container home or wanted to live in a shipping
container home because of the cost savings they expected to make.

We have previously discussed this in, How Much Do Shipping Container Homes
Cost?, where we showed three shipping container homes which have been built
for less than $100,000.

This isn‘t to say that all shipping container homes are cheap, quite the opposite
we‘veseen shipping container homes sell for more than $1,000,000. However it‘s
to show you that shipping containers can be used to build affordable homes and
this has been done across the globe.

2. Eco-Friendly
Running a close second place was eco-friendly; in-fact there was only a few
votes difference between this and price! A lot of people want to own a shipping
container home because they want to build homes in a sustainable,
environmentally friendly manner.

In-fact ‗eco-friendliness‘ is a trend which isn‘t unique to construction, but a trend

which has been gradually building momentum for the last decade; since the turn
of the century more and more people are becoming aware of the need to be as
environmentally friendly as possible.

Each time a shipping container is re-used we are saving the earth over 3,500kg
worth of steel! Not only that, we are also saving the use of other materials we
would need to use instead of the steel such as bricks or wood. I mean sure we
can melt the container back down into steel and use it for something else but
that‘s the beauty of container homes, we don‘t need to do any of that we simply
‗up-cycle‘ the container into something beautiful.

By far the price and eco-friendliness received the most amount of votes, however
three other categories still received a decent amount of interest.

3. Style/Looks
The third most popular reason people want to live in shipping container homes is
because of their looks!
It‘s not really surprising, is it? They look incredible!

Building with shipping containers creates stunning modular homes; using

containers has provided us with some of the most striking 21 st century homes to
date. Don‘t believe us- take a look at these epic shipping container homes.

4. Off-Grid Living
In fourth place was off-grid living. For those of you not familiar with the term, off-
grid living refers to living in a home which isn‘t connected to a mains electrical
supply. In essence it means to live in a sustainable self-sufficient manner.

Shipping container homes can make the perfect off-grid home; remember Brenda
Kelly‘s off grid home which was featured by living big in a tiny house? The home
was completed with two 135watt solar panels and a grey water system. The
home was built for around $30,000!
Shipping container homes can be purchased pre-fabricated which then means
you can simply get your container delivered and you have your off-grid home
ready to live in.

We haven‘t yet seen any 40 foot off-grid homes, but I think thats due to the
nature of where we normally see off-grid homes (remote, hard to access
locations). It‘s probably more trouble than it‘s worth transporting a 40 foot
container there…

5. Speed
The final reason we received from our subscribers was speed. Now by this, it‘s
meant the speed by which a shipping container home can be built when
compared to a traditionally built house (using bricks and mortar).

Shipping containers can be laid at pretty impressive speeds. Take for example
theRiverside Building Offices which is part of ‗Container City‘.
Here, 73 shipping containers were used to build the office block, and it only took
eight days to install them! A traditional office block made from concrete would
have taken much longer than this.
How Should You Ventilate Your
Shipping Container Home?
Of equal importance to insulating your container home is ventilating it properly.
Without providing your container with effective ventilation, whether passive or
mechanical, you are asking for serious problems with your newly built home.
Ventilation becomes even more important when we consider ‗tiny‘ shipping
container homes which are less than 600 square feet, because any ventilation
issue is enhanced due to the small space.

Shipping containers are designed to be inherently air tight. This is due to them
being used to ship goods in all kinds of weather across the ocean. Wemust
remember when goods are inside of containers the last thing we want in there is
corrosive saltwater!

This doesn‘t bode well when we take shipping containers and use them as
habitable homes, because as we know, homes require ventilation. Not to worry
though- as today we are going to address exactly how you can ventilate your
shipping container home.

Problems Caused By a Lack of Ventilation

Poor ventilation can go both ways, you can either have a home which has a lack
of ventilation and doesn‘t allow the movement of external air to enter your
shipping container. Or, you can have a home which provides too much ventilation
and proves either impossible or very expensive to maintain a consistent
temperature with your container.

Having poor ventilation within your container can cause harm to both your home
and the people living within it. One of the biggest problems caused by poor
ventilation is mold.

Mold
Mold is a fungus which when left untreated can be very expensive to remove and
when its fumes are inhaled by a human can cause harm.

Diseases
Poor ventilation has been linked with numerous human diseases such as:
pneumonia, dry eyes and nausea. In addition it has also been linked with
respiratory diseases, the most common of which is asthma.
Rust
Poor ventilation can also lead to a build-up of condensation which can cause
your steel containers to rust. This rust can also affect any metal pipework (such
as your plumbing) which run throughout your container. Repairing rusting
containers can be a time consuming and costly job.

Poor Aromas
The final problem we are going to look at is odours. Poor ventilation can lead to
damp which creates musty odours. You‘ve probably smelt this before if you‘ve
walked into an old room which hasn‘t had any fresh air for a while.

Also, because the air has nowhere to go, any scent within your home will
linger and cause a build-up of generally unwanted scents!

Enemy #1: Condensation!

So we know that a lack of ventilation can cause a whole host of problems but
perhaps the biggest problem it will cause you is condensation.

Condensation is the collection of droplets of water on a surface.

When warm air touches a surface that is colder than itself, the moisture within the
warm air escapes onto the colder surface. And as we know, where there is water,
shortly after there will be mold.

Various Forms of Condensation

Cold Bridge
This occurs when warm air touches a surface that is colder than itself. This is
most common on the external walls of your container.

Warm Front
This occurs when warm air gets inside your home and touches the cold internal
walls of your containers- however in poorly ventilated homes this isn‘t so
common.

Passive and Mechanical Ventilation

So now we know what can happen if your containers don‘t have sufficient
ventilation, it‘s time to address how you can ventilate your containers.

Noteworthy Articles
o How Do I Keep My Container Home Cool?
o How Do I Keep My Shipping Container Home Warm?
o 5 Methods To Insulate Your Shipping Container Home
There are two overarching methodologies when it comes to ventilation. The first
method being passive ventilation and the second method being mechanical
ventilation.

Passive Ventilation
Passive ventilation gives you the ability to ventilate your home without having to
spend lots of money. Mechanical ventilation such as air conditioning requires a
hefty energy bill, however, passive ventilation utilizes the earth‘s natural
elements to ventilate your home.

Vents
The cheapest, and most common, way to provide your containers with passive
ventilation is to fit either vents or a whirly bird onto your container. Placing vents
onto your containers allows air to blow both and in out of your containers just by
utilising the wind.

This is most commonly referred to as cross ventilation. You place vents on the
side of your container in which the wind blows into and then place vents on the
opposite side of your container. This allows air to blow in through vents on one
side of your containers and out of the vents on the other side of your container.

Design
Another great way to passively ventilate your container is by designing it in such
a way to utilise the wind to blow through your home.

We first saw this with shipping containers in 2011 with ‗Containers of Hope‘.
Containers of hope is a shipping container home in San Jose, Costa Rica which
uses windows placed just beneath its roof to allow air to blow through the
containers. These strategically placed windows keep the container cool on hot
summer days and it also helps to reduce the humidity of the containers.

We have also seen smart building design with Vissershok Primary School in
South Africa- who decided to use shipping containers for classrooms.

Vissershok Primary School placed lots of small windows along both sides of the
shipping containers wall, this again allows air to blow straight through the
container and remove stale air.

You can read more about Vissershok Primary School here.

Mechanical Ventilation
In certain climates, such as very humid places like southern Brazil, passive
ventilation is insufficient and mechanical ventilation is required.

In fact in many countries like the US, Australia, New Zealand and the United
Kingdom it is a building regulation standard to fit mechanical ventilation in
kitchens and bathrooms. Depending on your country the minimum amount of
extraction required is 15 litres per second in each room.

People normally fit an extractor fan (which is a type of exhaust-only mechanical

ventilation) to meet this building regulation.

This fan allows the humidity to be extracted out of your home before it settles on
a surface and turns into moisture and damp. The fan should be fitted as high as
possible on the wall which is furthest away from the main source of air placement
(either your door or window).

Supply Only Ventilation

The opposite of exhaust-only mechanical ventilation is supply only mechanical
ventilation. This is where instead of the fan pushing stale air out of your home,
the fan sucks fresh air into the home. Supply only ventilation is very useful when
your home has passive ventilation systems in place and you just need to
increase this passive ventilation on hot days.

Balanced Ventilation
Your final, but most expensive option is to use a balanced ventilation system.
This involves having fans to both push stale air out and suck fresh air in. The air
can then be sent throughout your container using ducts.

This means in moisture prone areas such as bathrooms and kitchens air can be
extracted, and fresh air can be blown into other areas of your home such as the
lounge and bedrooms.

Using a balanced ventilation system you can very easily manage the moisture
and humidity levels in your home.

Dehumidifier
Although not a mechanical ventilation device, a dehumidifier can help stop many
of the problems caused by bad ventilation. A dehumidifier reduces the level of
humidity in the air and thus can reduce the water content and stop condensation
occurring and corroding your containers!
They can be purchased as small stand-alone appliances which can be moved
room to room. Or you can buy entire home solutions which have ducts fed
throughout your container.

Foundation Ventilation
One issue which we haven‘t discussed so far is the importance of ensuring your
foundation is ventilated; this is also known as crawl space ventilation.

Now, not all foundations can be ventilated. For instance, if you have a raft (slab-
on-grade) foundation then you won‘t physically able to ventilate it. However if you
have a concrete pier foundation, or any other type of raised foundation, then you
need to ensure you have sufficient air flow underneath your containers.

Failure to ventilate your foundation can bring back that dreaded condensation
which can cause your foundation some serious problem such as mold and rot. In
addition, if your shipping container floor hasn‘t been insulated you can
experience even more problems such as moisture rising up from underneath the
containers into your floor.

The most common way to stop moisture and allow ventilation underneath your
foundation is to use vents.

In-fact many areas stipulate through their building code that you must use vents
to provide your foundation with air flow. These vents are typically fitted with a
wire mesh screen which keeps pests and insects out of your crawl space.

Vented crawl spaces work well in cold climates, however, in humid climates
using a vented crawl space can actually do more damage than good, because
the external air is normally more humid than the air already in the crawl space.

In humid climates it would be better to seal off the airflow to your crawl space
completely and use a dehumidifier.
Reasons Why You Should Have a
Shipping Container Home
Eco Friendly
So you want to do your part for the planet and become more environmentally
friendly, but when we talk about environmentally friendly homes this normally
costs the earth, take for example the million dollar green homes The Washington
Post reported. Most of us have the willingness but not the commanding price tag,
so what else can you do?

Most people turn to shipping container. There are an estimated 17 million of

these throughout the world at the moment, with around 6 million currently in use;
this means there are literally millions of these containers that aren‘t in use that
could be recycled and put towards a better use. Recycling shipping containers
into homes is one of the more eco-friendly approaches as it avoids the energy
intensive process of melting the steel back down whilst it‘s being recycled.

Another eco-friendly solution people are venturing to is log cabin or timber homes.
Whilst these warrant attention, and are certainly a viable solution, shipping
containers offer several distinct advantages over them. Firstly, they aren‘t
susceptible to dry rot and other fungus infections. Secondly, wood is predisposed
to mould which steel isn‘t. Finally water leakage is much more common in log
cabs when compared to the steel roofs on container homes.

Aesthetics

Whether or not you want to live in a container home aside, nobody can argue
that they aren‘t aesthetics stunning! Some of the ‗Cargotecture‘ we have seen
over the past several years has been stunning. Blending the rawness of the steel
containers with 21st century style has resulted in some of the most icon houses of
our times.
We would normally associate design and aesthetics like this will a million dollar
price tag however this isn‘t the case here.

If the Cottage in the Woods isn‘t entirely you then how about Sven and Anna
Pirkl‘s container home in California, designed by architect Peter DeMaria, which
literally caused two car crashes whilst people were crowding around the house to
take a glimpse and admire it.

Speed

Another fantastic reason people decide to build their houses from cargo
containers is that they can be built with incredible speed. The typical container is
over eight foot high and 40 foot long and these can be stacked side by side and
on top of each other like massive Lego blocks! It‘s common that once the
foundation‘s laid the ground floor can be constructed in under a day; imagine
how long it would take a traditional bricklayer to build the equivalent size wall.

The 2012 Census Bureau‘s survey on construction found that the average length
of time it takes to build a family home is 7 months after they have acquired
planning permission. The majority of shipping container homes can be built far
quicker than this, with even complex container homes being built within six
months. For exampleTodd and Di Miller, a Brisbane couple, who managed to
build their dream home in less than six months and this included losing weeks of
time due to floods and storms whilst they were building.
We have even seen some shipping container homes that are made up of just one
40ft by 8ft container. This container is prefabricated with everything you‘d need
from a kitchen, to living space to a bedroom. They‘re literally just delivered on
site with a set of key to your new home; how fast is that!?

Price

With the current global economy everyone is conscious to try and save a bit of
money here and there. Nothing can swallow your money up like an expensive
house; fortunately this isn‘t the case with container homes. For as little as $1,500
you can pick up used 40 ft shipping containers; you can imagine it doesn‘t take
many of these to build a sizeable family home.

The cost for an average equivalent brick wall would be at least $2,500 plus
money to actually lay the bricks! When you multiply these figures up for an
average America household it‘s easy to see why so many people are interested
in building their own shipping container home instead, for a fraction of the cost of
a traditional brick and mortar house.

Not only this if we compare them to wooden homes, you can see even more
savings. Houses made from wood typically need the wood routinely treated
which can be expensive and is time consuming, no such treatment is necessary
with steel!

Flexibility

The humble shipping container is incredibly flexible and as shown with the
homes in this post they can be used to craft just about anything you can imagine;
bar circular designs!! The beauty of the containers is that they are already built
so all you need to do is cut and chop away to make your perfect design.

Do you know how difficult it is to take down internal walls in a traditional house?
Very. With containers all you need to do is cut away the internal walls and you
can open them up together to create really impressive sized rooms. Also
because shipping container sizes are generic you can easily stack them up and
they fit perfectly together.

Virtually Indestructible

Just in case you‘re still on the fence here, the final awesome reason is that they
are virtually indestructible; it‘s no surprise the US army are using them as
shelters! These containers are designed to hold up to thirty tons of weight and to
be stacked up to seven high; that‘s over 200 tons when fully loaded. So there no
doubt that cargo containers can easily withstand whatever weight loads a typical
house will place upon it.

Earlier we mentioned Todd and Di Miller who built their home in less than six
months in 2013. The inspiration for their shipping container home came in 2011
when sadly, during the Queensland floods, which did over $1 billion worth of
damage, their brick and mortar family home was destroyed. Now they have
a shipping container home which they claim is flood proof!

Container houses in Malaysia? High

functionality, low cost!
Standardised shipping trailers became fashionable not too long ago, and in fact,
the origin of shipping container architecture can be traced back to the early
1960s. However, shipping container houses took a long time to be in vogue.
Redondo Beach House, designed by Peter DeMaria in 2007, is considered to be
the first real container home in North America. In this short period of time their
popularity spread far and wide.

Malaysia is no stranger to container houses, either. Container resorts built in the

small town of Bukit Tinggi in Pahang created ripples all over the country and
beyond. Some more recycled container bungalows are planned in the scenic
surroundings of Batang Kali.

There are a number of reasons for the worldwide popularity of container homes.

- Shipping containers are a great solution for affordable housing.

- They are easy to customise according to the owners tastes and requirements.
- They can be turned into sustainable modular structures.
- Abandoned containers are easily recycled this way.
- Container homes turn out to be stronger and more durable than many
traditional structures.
- Shipping containers are available everywhere. Sourcing it for a building
material does not cause any headaches!

The Pros and Cons of Cargo Container

Architecture
With the green premise growing in popularity across the globe, more and more people
are turning to cargo container structures for green alternatives. There are countless
numbers of empty, unused shipping containers around the world just sitting on shipping
docks taking up space. The reason for this is that it‘s too expensive for a country to ship
empty containers back to 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 a home, office, apartment, school, dormitory,
studio, emergency shelter, and everything else

On November 23, 1987, Phillip C. Clark file for a United States patent describe as a
―Method for converting one or more steel shipping containers into a habitable building at
a building site and the product thereof.‖ This patent was granted on August 8, 1989 as
patent 4854094. The diagrams and information contained within the documentation of
the patent appear to lay the groundwork for many current shipping container
architectural ideas.

In 2006, Southern California architect Peter DeMaria, designed the first two-story
shipping container home in the U.S. as an approved structural system under the strict
guidelines of the nationally recognized Uniform Building Code. Even more impressive is
Lot-Tek‘s Puma City, which was built with abundant material at a low price, without
substituting design quality. As such, there are many great examples of shipping
container architecture in the world.
Shipping container architecture gets a lot of encouraging coverage in the design world
as a trendy green alternative to traditional building materials, and seems like a smart
choice for people looking for eco-consciousness. However, there are a lot of downsides
to building with cargo containers. For instance, the coatings used to make the containers
durable for ocean transport also happen to contain a number of harmful chemicals, such
as chromate, phosphorous, and lead-based paints. Moreover, wood floors that line the
majority of shipping container buildings are infused with hazardous chemical pesticides
like arsenic and chromium to keep pests away.

Reusing containers seems to be a low energy alternative, however, few people factor in
the amount of energy required to make the box habitable. The entire structure needs to
be sandblasted bare, floors need to be replaced, and openings need to be cut with a
torch or fireman‘s saw. The average container eventually produces nearly a thousand
pounds of hazardous waste before it can be used as a structure. All of this, coupled with
the fossil fuels required to move the container into place with heavy machinery,
contribute significantly to its ecological footprint.

Another downside is that dimensionally, an individual container creates awkward

living/working spaces. Taking into account added insulation, you have a long narrow box
with less than eight foot ceiling. To make an adequate sized space, multiple boxes need
to be combined, which again, requires energy.

In many areas, it is cheaper and less energy to build a similarly scaled structure using
wood framing. Shipping container homes makes sense where resources are scarce,
containers are in abundance, and where people are in need of immediate shelter such
as, developing nations and disaster relief. While there are certainly striking and
innovative examples of architecture using cargo containers, it is typically not the best
method of design and construction.
ISO Shipping Containers and Building Code Requirements
General Comments on ISO Shipping Container's Inherent Capacity to Satisfy
Building Code Requirements in Shipping Container House Applica tions:

ISO shipping cargo containers are tested in accordance with the requirements of
International Standard ISO 1496/1 which stipulates static and dynamic design load
factors to be complied with. In the case of a 20' steel container, it is designed to have a
maximum gross weight of 52,910 lbs (typically has a tare weight of around 5,000 lbs and
a payload (P) potential of 47,910 lbs). The container when loaded to its maximum gross
weight must be capable of withstanding imposed loads of 2g downwards, 0.6g lateral
and 2g longitudinal plus be able to withstand eight similar containers loaded to maximum
gross weight stacked on top of it in a ships hold or at a land terminal. It therefore has a
very sever operational life and, notwithstanding its low tare weight it is very strongly built.

The side walls and end walls/doors have to withstand loadings of 0.6P and 0.4P
respectively, these values equate to 28,746 lbs and 19,164 lbs based upon the payload
given above. The side wall area in contact with the load is 146.56 sq. ft. giving a
pressure of 196 lbs/sq. ft. Corresponding figures for the end wall/doors are 51.78 sq. ft.
and 370 lbs/sq. ft. These figures are well in excess of the 20 lbs/sq. ft. wind load
required for structures less than 50 ft. high. A wind of 100 MPH produces a pressure of
only 30 lbs/sq. ft.

The roof load test is 660 lbs over an area of 2' x 1' applied to the weakest part of the
roof. The load is usually applied at the center of the containers positioned with the 2'
dimension aligned longitudinally. Thus the roof is able to support an imposed load of a
minimum of 330 lbs/sq. ft. The design is easily capable of supporting the basic snow
loads of 30 lbs per sq. ft. evenly distributed.

It is difficult to quantify uplift and suction forces. Unlike a building, the roof of a container
is an integral part of the structure; it is continuously welded around its entire periphery
and is itself made from sheets of corrugated 14 ga. Cor-Ten steel also continuously
welded together. This steel, also used for the side and end walls has a minimum yield
strength of 50 ksi, and tensile of 70 ksi. The probability of the roof being removed by
these forces is practically zero as the entire container structure would have to be
destroyed for this to happen.
However, it is not unusual for the complete container to be lifted or blown over if it is not
secured to the ground in storm or hurricane conditions. This would be prevented by
adequate foundation design which is the responsibility of the customer. As you know
when containers do blow over in container yards the resulting damage is almost always
minimal, another testimonial to their strength.

The floor is design to pass a concentrated load test of 16,000 lbs over a foot print of 44
sq. inches. The floor has also been designed to pass a test at twice its rated payload
capacity of 47,895 for a 20 container and 58,823 lbs for a 40' container when evenly
distributed.

The boxes are suitable for earthquake areas of seismic rating of up to the California
standards.

Source:
http://www.residentialshippingcontainerprimer.com/ISO%20Shipping%20Containers%20
and%20Building%20Code%20Requirements
Does the Upcycle House live up to its
advance billing?
Last May we showed the design of the Upcycle House by Lendager

Architects, which had " the ambitious goal of being the first house build only

from upcycled and environmentally sustainable materials." Now that it is built, the

question is, does it live up to its advance billing? Much depends on how you

define upcycling. The architects defined it:

Upcycling is a step beyond recycling, the materials are not just reused, but

reused in a way where value and quality is added.

Now don't get me wrong, this a great idea and there is a lot going on in this

project that I think is terrific. However, they call it "an experimental project, aimed

at exposing potential carbon-emission reductions through the use of recycled and

upcycled building materials." As an experiment, I think there are a few questions

raised.

Are shipping containers "upcycled?"

But lets start with the shipping containers. These boxes are designed to stack

sixteen high, they can hold tons. They are designed for international shipping.

They are now holding up a light roof. There is no question that these boxes are

seriously bashed up and at the ned of their useful life (and from an era when the
floors and paint are toxic) but is it upcycling to have so much steel doing so little

work?

An empty 40' shipping container weighs 8380 pounds. A galvanized steel stud

weighs a pound per linear foot. These two containers, melted down and rolled

and formed, could have been upcycled into 2,095 8' long steel studs. Framing the

walls instead of using shipping containers would have used about 144 of them.

Using shipping containers as structural elements for a one storey building is

downcycling and wasting of a resource.

Is aluminum siding and roofing "upcycled?"

The siding and roofing of the house is made from "recycled aluminum soda

cans." Here again, I think it is more complicated. the manufacture of aluminum is

hugely energy intensive (the stuff has been nicknamed "congealed electricity"),

and adds up to as much as 1% of global carbon emissions. Recycled

aluminum only has 5% of the carbon footprint of virgin aluminum.

The problem is, there isn't enough of it to go around, there isn't enough recycled

aluminum to meet demand. So using aluminum of any kind, recycled or virgin,

means that new aluminum has to be made to make up the difference. That's why

one should think twice about using it at all. A case can be made that making

siding out of it is neither upcycling nor is it environmentally sustainable.

As Streamline Resources notes,

Because of its recyclability, aluminum is one of the green movements poster

children. But there are serious issues with aluminum. The process of producing
the pure metal we all know and love from its most basic natural occurring state
(Bauxite) requires an incredible amount of energy. So much energy, in fact, that

you would have to recycle the same piece of aluminum 20 times to just break

even on the energy used to create it in the first place. And that is just the tip of

the iceberg.

The kitchen floor is clad in tiled champagne cork-leftovers, and the bath tiles are

made from recycled glass.

Walls and floors are covered with OSB-panels consisting of wood-chips that are

bi-products of various production sites, pressed together without glue. The

recycled materials are not very visible and the house does not radiate a recycled

look – The house looks and functions like a contemporary house built of

conventional materials.

A special emphasis has been put on the house‘s passive properties. Therefore

Upcycle House is designed with orientation, temperature zones, daylight

optimization, shading and natural ventilation in mind.

Source: http://www.treehugger.com/modular-design/does-upcycle-house-live-its-
advance-billing.html
What's wrong with shipping
container housing? One architect says
"everything."
Shipping containers are now such a thing that in Denmark, they are putting

them in glass cases. I have had a troubled relationship with shipping containers

since I was ten, when my dad went into the container biz. They were made in the

USA and Canada then and were really expensive; you wouldn't think of living in

them. But every now and again he would get sent a photo of some shipping

container in Africa that fell off a truck and had windows and doors cut into the

walls.

I had some fun with them in University, designing a summer camp for temporary

use that folded out of a forty footer. Because you would never actually use a

container empty; the dimensions are lousy for people and the flooring was

treated with insecticides and the paints were designed to last through ten years

on the high seas, so are seriously industrial. It may have been a really bad career

choice not sticking with containers, but my moves into modular

construction and tiny homes were not too successful either.
Does Shipping Container Architecture
Make Sense?
Shipping Container House By Ross Stevens

I grew up around shipping containers; my dad made them. I played with them in

architecture school, designing a summer camp out of them, fascinated by the

handling technology that made them cheap and easy to move. But in the real

world I found them to be too small, too expensive, and too toxic.

Today, shipping container architecture is all the rage, and we have shown

dozens of them on TreeHugger. Where containers were once expensive, now

they are cheap and ubiquitous, and designers are doing amazing things with

them. Did I make a terrible career move? Reading Brian Pagnotta in ArchDaily,

in one of the most balanced and thoughtful articles I have seen on the subject of

container architecture, I think perhaps not.

100 Shipping Containers Become Student Housing in France

Pagnotta starts with the benefits:

There are copious benefits to the so-called shipping container architecture model.

A few of these advantages include: strength, durability, availability, and cost. The

abundance and relative cheapness (some sell for as little as $900) of these

containers during the last decade comes from the deficit in manufactured goods

coming from North America. These manufactured goods come to North America,

from Asia and Europe, in containers that often have to be shipped back empty at

a considerable expense. Therefore, new applications are sought for the used
containers that have reached their final destination.
He then gives a bit of history, tracing container buildings back to a patent in

1989. Here, he is patently wrong; people were playing with them back in the

seventies.

My dad built this in the seventies, moving shipping containers full of equipment to

the Arctic, where he lined them up in two rows and put a roof between them and

doors on the end, so that workers had an enclosed environment to unload the

containers and assemble whatever it was. The key here was mobility; the next

year when the containers were empty the building would be shipped south again.

(A container cost $ 5,000 in 1970 dollars, you didn't just abandon it).

The same basic idea is being used by everyone from Adam Kalkin to Peter

Demaria- they recognize that the container is too small an element for most

functions, so they build between them.

When I played with shipping containers in the 70s at school, it was all about

folding stuff out of them and about movement. The container was the box in

which you shipped stuff. Because really, by the time you insulate and finish the

interior, what are you going to do in seven feet and a few inches? You can't even

fit a double bed in and walk around it. And you certainly couldn't live in any

container made for international travel; to be allowed into Australia the wood

floors had to be treated with seriously toxic insecticides. To last ten years in

the salt air of a container ship, they were painted in industrial strength paints that

are full of toxic chemicals.

The real attraction was their mobility. Who in their right mind would nail them
down permanently?
At Archdaily, Peter picks up on all of these issues of toxicity and size. He also

writes:

Reusing containers seems to be a low energy alternative, however, few people

factor in the amount of energy required to make the box habitable. The entire

structure needs to be sandblasted bare, floors need to be replaced, and

openings need to be cut with a torch or fireman's saw. The average container

eventually produces nearly a thousand pounds of hazardous waste before it can

be used as a structure.

He concludes:

While there are certainly striking and innovative examples of architecture using

cargo containers, it is typically not the best method of design and construction.

MEKA in Manhattan

I have watched the shipping container meme with some bemusement and a bit of

depression, thinking that I seriously missed the boat. But 30 years ago I thought

them too small, toxic and expensive, and that hasn't changed. It is about to, as

designers and builders finally figure out what shipping containers actually are,

which is not just a box, but part of a global transportation system with a vast

infrastructure of ships, trains, trucks and cranes that has driven the cost of

shipping down to a fraction of what it used to be.

Shipping containers as infill housing by MEKA

This is what I think is the future of shipping container architecture, and it is not a
happy thought. Shipping containers have globalized the production of just about
everything except housing, because houses are bigger than

boxes. MEKA manufactures and finishes new containers in China, then uses that

fabulous shipping infrastructure to inexpensively move them anywhere in the

world, from Stuttgart to St. Clair Avenue in Toronto, a block from my house.

When you think of a shipping container as more than just a box, but part of a

system, then it begins to make sense. And the logical, and inevitable conclusion

is that housing is no longer any different than any other product, but can be built

anywhere in the world. The role of the shipping container in architecture will be to

offshore the housing industry to China, just like every other. That is their real

future.

If you care about getting consistent, high quality housing that's fast and cheap,

this will make you happy. If you care about all those jobs that have vaporized in

the housing crash, it's a problem, they've been exported.

Source: http://www.treehugger.com/modular-design/does-shipping-container-

architecture-make-sense.html

He speaks from some experience, having actually built a container project, and

notes that "For sites where on-site construction is not feasible or desirable, fitting

a container out in the factory can be a sensible option." But for housing? On his

personal website,Mark makes some very good points. Here are some of the

most interesting:
Housing is usually not a technology problem. All parts of the world have

vernacular housing, and it usually works quite well for the local climate. There are

certainly places with material shortages, or situations where factory built housing

might be appropriate- especially when an area is recovering from a disaster. In

this case prefab buildings would make sense- but doing them in containers does

not.

Here I might argue that the great genius of shipping containers is not the box but

the handling systems; there are ships, cranes, trucks and trains all designed

around them. So if you do want to deliver stuff fast after a disaster, there is no

better form than the shipping container. He then goes through the fundamental

problem of width, which is just too narrow really, Insulation, which is a huge

problem, and for once, somebody understands about structure:

Structure. You‘ve seen the proposals with cantilevers everywhere. Containers

stacked like Lego building blocks, or with one layer perpendicular to the next.

Architects love stuff like this, just like they throw around usually

misleading/meaningless phrases like ―kit of parts.‖ Guess what- the second you

don‘t stack the containers on their corners, the structure that is built into the

containers needs to be duplicated with heavy steel reinforcing. The rails at the

top and the roof of the container are not structural at all (the roof of a container is

light gauge steel, and will dent easily if you step on it). If you cut openings in the

container walls, the entire structure starts to deflect and needs to be reinforced

because the corrugated sides act like the flange of beam and once big pieces are

removed, the beam stops working. All of this steel reinforcing is very expensive,

and it‘s the only way you can build a ―double-wide.‖

Utilities and Mechanical Systems. In a large building, you‘ll still need a lot of

space to run utilities. Because of the problems with insulation mentioned above,

you will need to install a very robust HVAC system to heat and cool the building

(that Mumbai tower shown above would literally be a deathtrap without cooling).

You will have a hard time taking advantage of passive strategies like thermal

mass if you maintain the container aesthetic. You‘ll also end up with low ceilings,

as even high cube containers are only 9-‘6‖ (2.9 m) in overall exterior height, so

any ductwork or utilities start cutting in to headroom.

Finally Mark mentions the issue of recycling. I have looked at this in the past,

with theUpcycle House which had " the ambitious goal of being the first house

build only from upcycled and environmentally sustainable materials." I did a

calculation to determine if using two shipping containers as the structure of the

house was actually the highest and best use:

An empty 40' shipping container weighs 8380 pounds. A galvanized steel stud

weighs a pound per linear foot. These two containers, melted down and rolled

and formed, could have been upcycled into 2,095 8' long steel studs. Framing the

walls instead of using shipping containers would have used about 144 of them.

Using shipping containers as structural elements for a one storey building is

downcycling and wasting of a resource.

There is a lot more steel in a shipping container than you actually need for a

building; that's so they can be stacked full nine high and get tossed around the
ocean and thrown on trucks and trains. It's really being wasted when it's put into
a house. And as Mark notes, you can probably build it faster and cheaper than

bringing in a welder and mucking up a shipping container.

Relatively untrained people can build a room that size of simple wood framing in

a day without needing to rent a crane or learning how to weld for about the same

cost (or less) than buying a used container.