kalkin shipping container house

Shipping container homes seem like they’re just getting cooler and cooler. What once might have been little more than a metal shack with a window and a door cut into it now offers a wild array of residences that even perform tricks – whether by stacking into tall towers or transforming to reveal interiors we never would have guessed existed. In this case, we get to peek into an example of the latter.

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kalkin shipping container house packed up

Hidden inside this steel cargo container, rusted from a life of shipping at sea, lies a secret luxury home layout that unfolds at the push of a button – opening like an ocean clam to reveal a fully-furnished set of floor plans – as precious and surprising as a perfect pearl.

kalkin shipping container house secret interior
kalkin shipping container house

The flip-open mini-house designed by Adam Kalkin (who has created a number of amazing shipping container conversions) is illuminated from a suspended chandelier and set of built-in table lamps. These lights turn on remotely as the project is opened up (via hidden hydraulics) to reveal a series of semi-divided spaces unlike any residential plan you have ever seen – an open layout that amounts to a combined set of living, lounging, library, dining, sitting and sleeping areas.

kalkin shipping container house unfolding
kalkin shipping container house transforming

One of the shipping containers‘ side panels becomes a platform for a kind of floating bedroom-and-bathroom combination complete with a bed, headboard, bench, sink and toilet. Another storage wall slides into place and features a leather couch, side tables and lighting. In the center stands a simple picnic-style table flanked by benches for eating or conversing.

Two door panels fold open as a pair of library walls lined with bookshelves. To be fair, this is just a concept – and such an open layout has more than one drastic limitation … but still: imagine the possibilities of sending a modular furniture-filled, ready-to-use residence along land by rail or across the seven seas by ship.