Painted black on the outside, the shipping container pool is level with an elevated wooden deck that offers just enough room for a pair of lounge chairs. Measuring the standard 8 feet wide, 8.5 feet high, and 20 feet long, the pool has been fitted with a waterproof liner, built-in bench seating, and underwater lighting. It was professionally made by Modpools, a company that sells shipping container pools all over the United States and Canada, and features an automation system by Pentair that lets you control the lights, pH, and sanitizer performance via smartphone.

Modpools are self-contained portable units, so once you have one, you can take it with you when you move, if you want. All you need is a crane and a flat deck truck. They can be installed above ground, in-ground, or somewhere in between, and they come with an optional lightweight divider wall that turns half of the pool into a hot tub on demand. If you want to try one in person, check out the Casa Cosmos Airbnb in Desert Hot Springs, California, which has a nearly-identical pool to the one at this Joshua Tree residence.

The rest of the home is nothing to sneeze at, either. The renovation was spearheaded by Karen McAloon, former host of the television shows Find Your Style and Design Remix on HGTV and co-founder of design firm X8 Property & Design. McAlool has turned a number of Joshua Tree homes from drab and dated to vacation rental-worthy, and her work on 636 Valencia Drive will have you dreaming of warm arid nights with sage and pinyon pine in the air. The home boasts a Morso fireplace, 26-foot hand-plastered bench, handmade white oak cabinets in the kitchen, and a 45-square-foot white quartz island.

The primary bedroom, which opens onto a private Saltillo tiled patio, features a generously sized en-suite bathroom with a dual walk-in shower. Two guest rooms open to the front patio and share a bathroom with a Roman clay wall treatment. An adjacent garage has been converted to a one bedroom, one bathroom guest casita for even more hosting capabilities.

If you love the idea of a shipping container pool but want to save some cash, it is possible to DIY this project. It can be as cheap and simple as adding a pond liner to a clean, watertight container or more high-end and durable with a fiberglass liner insert. Check out our guide to shipping container pools for more details. For even more of a fun DIY spirit, you can even transform an old dumpster into a swimming pool.

The post You’re Going to Want to Copy This Modern Shipping Container Pool in Joshua Tree first appeared on Dornob.

When approached to design a vacation rental in the rural Nakhon Nayok area two hours outside of Bangkok, architect Tung Jai Ork Baab had to get creative to work around the narrow village roads, which make it difficult for large construction vehicles to get through. On top of that, the region is plagued by a lack of skilled contractors and construction workers. For both of these reasons, utilizing a prefabricated structure seemed like the easiest and safest choice. Thus, the idea of the “Container Cabin” was born.

Since the project would be located in the low and marshy land of an empty rice paddy, Tung Jai Ork Baab started by having a small reservoir dug out, using the dirt to fashion enough high ground for a house and accompanying orchards. With the ferocity of Thailand’s rainy season, being built on a raised berm was essential for protection against potential flooding.

Employing the notion of an all-weather, indoor-outdoor space, the architect connected two 20-foot shipping containers to craft the main common room, adding full floor-to-ceiling windows on the ends to let in plenty of light, with the original loading doors providing shelter during storms.

An open-air courtyard connects the living room to the dining and pantry space, housed by yet another container. That gateway deck, with a second-story shipping container forming the roof, is intended to be the home’s main gathering space, thanks to the perpetually warm weather in the area. Chairs and cushions are scattered throughout the courtyard for lounging in the tropical temperatures, with a tire swing suspended from the ceiling for the enjoyment of little vacationers.

The top floor container comprises a private bedroom, with the tall A-frame creating balconies and alfresco lounge areas all around the sleeping quarters. The shape of the cabin was intentional: the sloped rooflines shade the entire residence, avoiding the problem of heat transfer to the metal containers. One section of the roof was replaced with a translucent material to let natural light into the middle deck. Steel plate louvers are built into the frame to deflect frequent rains but still allow light and wind to flow through the entire space for ventilation.

An outdoor cooking area bridges the gap between the A-frame and a detached container bedroom. That room connects to an above-ground pool encased in a deck space that seriously bumps up the rural getaway’s recreation game. And since the vacation home was designed with traveling families in mind, the front of the property also features a wooden playground and sandbox structure.

The interior spaces throughout were painted a fresh white for a clean and airy feel. The exterior got an earthy brown treatment, helping it to blend in with the natural environment.

This Container Cabin is a beautiful addition to the resourceful (sometimes questionable) architectural trend of using cheap and readily available shipping containers as housing accommodations when circumstances allow.

The post Shipping Containers Make Up This Beautiful Vacation Home in Rural Thailand first appeared on Dornob.

So when a Colorado company debuted “Stackhouse,” a housing project consisting of stacked metal shipping containers, the comparisons were inevitable. In r/ABoringDystopia on Reddit, one user asks, “Why can’t we have normal ‘affordable’ housing instead of living in shipping containers and other things the capitalist class can no longer use?”

It’s a fair question. People around the world were already adapting shipping containers into makeshift housing out of pure necessity before this type of “upcycled” architecture was a trend. It’s true that once shipping containers are no longer usable for the transportation of goods, they can make a convenient module for experimental structures, and modular architecture is often more sustainable than conventional construction. But the truth is, shipping containers aren’t actually all that great to live in for a variety of reasons.

Set to open its doors in August 2022, Stackhouse professes to be “the first company to build vertical infrastructure for moveable containers,” as co-founder and CEO Janelle Briggs told Denverite. The idea is you can buy a unit in one city and then transport the whole thing somewhere else when you feel like moving. Meanwhile, stacking the units takes up less valuable real estate in desirable cities, adding to the availability of affordable housing.

But, as Reddit pointed out, the problem lies in how we define “affordable,” and the quality level we’re willing to accept for the price. Stackhouse is presented as housing the average person should actually want, with 320 square feet of living space within a 40-foot shipping container. Laid out either as a studio or one bedroom, each unit has a full kitchen, solar panels, and a bathroom with a tub. The units will be stacked eight stories high with 62 total slots. While the prices for the containers themselves range from $110,000 to $130,000, the actual price of occupying a “slot” brings the price up to as much as $350,000.

That’s a lot of money to live in a metal box measuring less than eight feet wide inside. By comparison, the median closing price for an attached residential home in Denver was $375,000 in August. In more expensive cities like Seattle or San Francisco, good luck finding so much as a shanty for less than half a million dollars. When these are our options for so-called affordable housing, who wins? (The developers, who are the ones lobbying your state senators to prevent the construction of actual affordable housing, of course).

Sure, there are people who are going to be happy to live in this shipping container complex. But it’s a slippery slope. Both rent and real estate prices are skyrocketing all over the world, and the choices we’re presented with seem to keep getting smaller and lower quality at the same time. Choosing to limit your possessions and live in a tiny home is one thing. Being forced into substandard housing because it’s all you can afford is another. The idea to reuse shipping containers as housing was well-intended, but it’s time to move onto more humane solutions.

The post Real-Life “Ready Player One”: $300K Shipping Container Homes in Colorado first appeared on Dornob.

“The goal of the project was to build a resilient, sustainable residence that responded to the needs of the environment but didn’t sacrifice the comforts of modern living,” says principal architect and owner Adam Wiesehan. “Building and living on water has been an incredible experience. Architecture on water has a more immediate need to be in tune with natural surroundings, and I’m grateful that this project has put me in closer touch with the local environment.”

Wiesehan, an architect with Rekstur, and his wife Margaret Day, a librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library, both grew up coastside (in Texas and Massachusetts, respectively). After they met and married five years ago, they decided to build a home that would bring them back to the sea. “The [coastal] culture is fairly infectious. We wanted to do something ourselves that mixed in my background of architecture with our shared love of the water,” said Wisehan in an interview with Architectural Digest.

The resulting two-story “Kairu House” was constructed from two 40-foot-tall cube containers that were sliced in half diagonally and stacked on top of each other. The structure rests atop a welded-together platform of two 11-foot by 30-foot steel sectional barges. The couple describes the 470-square-foot dwelling as an “upside-down house,” with the bedroom, bathroom, and living space on the first floor, and the kitchen, dining room, and two decks on the second.

In lieu of traditional windows, the couple recycled old doors into fold-out awning-style ones. They also hired a local metalworker to provide a custom oversized front door.

“Unlike a lot of New York residences, it’s very much an indoor-outdoor home,” Day notes. “We have these big awning windows that we open up, the big front door, the big patio doors on the second floor, and in the warm weather, which is when we’re here the most, it so fits our love of nature and our desire to be outside.”

All that easy access to the outside also eliminates the need for an HVAC system. The couple stresses that they “don’t use air conditioners. We have no need for that in the summer because we get such a wonderful breeze through the house.”

The freight boxes inside were transformed into a fully-fledged home with the help of sapele hardwood floors and maple walls. Special accents include a kitchen backsplash of handmade turquoise tiles and a distinctive stone sink in the bathroom.

“We selected fixtures and finishes that reference our bohemian inspiration,” explains Wiesehan. To be extra sustainable, the design also features a composting toilet and plans to expand the existing DC power with solar panels.

Perhaps most exciting of all is the Kairu House’s potential for adapting to global warming. With its ability to move with rising sea levels along the coast, the design could mark the start of an affordable and resilient trend for future living.

The post Couple Turns Reclaimed Shipping Containers Into Floating NYC Summer House first appeared on Dornob.

The biggest draw of the off-grid Gaia house is its price tag, which Pin-Up Houses estimates at $21,000. It’s also easy for novices to build in as little as three months. It’s definitely diminutive at a mere 20 x 8 feet, but it’s packed with just about everything the average person needs, including a bathroom with a shower and compost toilet, a kitchen with a refrigerator and propane-powered stove, a wood-burning stove for warmth, and plenty of storage space.

The light-colored plywood interior features a plethora of drawers and cabinets, with a sofa that folds down into a bed after dark. You can open both the double sliding glass doors and the huge side doors to open the interiors to fresh air and sunlight, and the outdoor terrace folds up and down using a winch to extend your living space in nice weather or protect the giant glass wall while on the road. Unlike a tiny house on wheels, you can’t just hook it up to a truck and motor down the highway to move it, but like all shipping containers, it can be transported on the back of a truck.

Since steel conducts a lot of heat and cold, one of the biggest issues with converting a shipping container to a home is insulation. The Gaia features spray insulation between the outer steel walls, wooden studs, and spruce plywood interior walls to create a cozy envelope. A 264-gallon water tank on the side of the unit services the home’s two sinks and shower, with a filter for potable water. The three 165-watt rooftop solar panels and 400W wind turbine supply plenty of power to the home’s battery system, which can be monitored using a dedicated app.

“It’s necessary to look for alternative forms of housing that will have a less negative impact on the environment, as well as complement traditional approaches to housing,” the company explains. “We have decided to repurpose a discarded shipping container and fit it out with the most available building materials and latest technology to design a unique independent housing unit.”

You really have to be a fan of the industrial aesthetic to enjoy the Gaia house, since there’s no disguising the look of the shipping container on the outside. But if you’re into the look and willing to put in the work to make it livable, it can offer an accessible way to gain a vacation house, income-generating rental, or backyard office, and it might work for some full-time off-gridders, too.

Pin-Up Houses has already built a prototype of the Gaia, and if the design generates enough interest from the public, they might consider manufacturing and selling more of them. In the meantime, you can buy a complete set of plans along with material lists, tool lists, and an eBook about building tiny houses for just $190 from the Pin-Up Houses website.

The post The Gaia Off-Grid Container House Costs Just $21,000 to Build first appeared on Dornob.

As you can see, adding that second level onto the home is what really makes it stand out, especially since the builders highlighted the use of shipping containers in the design. More specifically, the renovation added two 53-foot containers sourced from Chicago, one of which still has its hinged steel doors thrown dramatically open to reveal a picture window.

The owners also incorporated reclaimed barn wood into the project, giving both levels the same distressed exterior siding to tie them together. The leftover barn wood was used for the interior ceilings of the main living space. Altogether, this weathered wood, the exposed steel of the shipping crates, the concrete floors, and pops of bright color give the home a lot of personality.

Shipping crates can be hard to transform into livable houses because they’re so narrow, but there’s no shortage of space in this four bedroom, four bathroom abode. Generous use of glass allows natural light to penetrate every square inch, and the rooms are laid out to take advantage of views in every direction, including the surrounding Red Rocks, Flatirons, and foothills. On the main floor, a garage-style door opens the living room up to a large patio.

The lucky buyer got the home fully furnished with all the ingenious little touches the unnamed sellers incorporated into the design, like a vintage dresser repurposed as a bathroom vanity, a commercial refrigerator with glass doors, diner-style stools in the kitchen, a striking industrial metal staircase, and botanical wallpaper.

“Both he and his partner are extremely creative,” says listing agent Zach Zeldner of the sellers. “Technically, it was a remodel, but little remains [of the original 1954 single-family home]. The lines in the design are modern, but a lot of the materials are rustic.”

Zeldner, an agent with Compass Realty, notes that the home has had an astronomical amount of interest since it was listed, and it sold almost as soon as it became available.

Here’s the description from the property’s listing:

“A work of art inside and out. Meticulously handcrafted using shipping containers, reclaimed wood, and steel, this outstanding 4,000+-square-foot residence is a marvel in design, functionality, and energy efficiency. Sited on an elevated 9,375 square-foot lot, the home frames breathtaking views in every direction, including huge iconic Flatirons views to the south, unobstructed Red Rocks and Foothills views to the north, and eastern vistas over Downtown Boulder. Flooded with abundant natural light and featuring multiple indoor and outdoor living spaces, this home is designed to take advantage of all that Boulder has to offer.”

This unique upcycled home is a great example of how shipping container architecture can go right, versus when it’s less than livable or downright dangerous.

The post Modern Handcrafted Shipping Container House for Sale in Colorado first appeared on Dornob.

These 40-by-8 foot, 96-square-foot steel boxes can be found virtually anywhere in the world, bought for $5,000 USD or less and easily moved to the location of your choice. While the installation of an in-ground swimming pool can run you between $35,000 and $60,000, a finished DIY shipping container pool will be just a fraction of that cost, not including any decks you might want to add on.

Since they’re rectangular, they’re perfect for lap swimmers or just soaking on a hot day. And best of all, you can take them with you when you move. If 40 feet is too big, a 20-foot container will do the job. The look of a shipping crate in your backyard isn’t for everyone, but if you have a contemporary home, it could even add to the aesthetics.

To make your own, you’ll probably want to start by getting a permit from your local authorities. You’ll also need a proper foundation. Some people just lay out an even pad of gravel, but a concrete slab is ideal. Since shipping containers aren’t designed to hold water, the walls will also need to be reinforced to withstand the pressure, and you’ll have to waterproof the inside with welding, waterproofing paints, a fiberglass insert, or a concrete liner. The cheapest option is simply a thick vinyl pond liner. More details on the process are available at iContainerHome.

For an example of a DIY shipping crate pool, check out this one created by Brooke in Austin, Texas. She treated it “like an inside-out ship,” making it waterproof from the inside with a product called Water Weld.

“It took buying an above ground pool skimmer (I buy everything online at Doheny’s – free shipping!), hiring a welder to cut a hole in the side of the pool and fabricate a frame, then coating and painting all the raw metal (and doing a quick re-coat of the bottom of the pool since it was drained anyhow) with Sani-Tred’s multi-step no rust paint system and then Olympic’s Zeron.”

If all of that sounds like too much work but you love the look, you can always have a shipping container swimming pool made for you. Modpools specializes in shipping container pools, and their results speak for themselves. They sometimes insert glass panels so you can see through the sides, build decks around them, or integrate them into the design of an existing home. You can add on smart features to control temperature, jets, and lighting from your smartphone.

“Unlike conventional pools that can take weeks to pour and cure, your Modpool can be up and running the day of its arrival. Add a mod pool divider to quickly convert your pool into a hot tub and back again.”

Want to start a little smaller? A dumpster pool might be more your speed. That’s right, we said dumpster — but we swear it’s way cooler than it sounds.

The post Make a Splash With Container Pools first appeared on Dornob.

Fully equipped with all the things health professionals might need in an underserved area, these shipping container clinics are constructed off-site and shipped wherever they’re needed, whether that’s a rural area lacking the kind of medical infrastructure needed to address a crisis like COVID-19 or an overloaded urban hospital. And since it’s so compact and already the standard size shipped by trucking companies, it’s easy to move and locate just about anywhere, requiring no foundation or other prep work. It just has to be hooked up to electricity and running water.

The Startup Scene reports that “within urban centers, it also provides a solution for sporting clubs, residential compounds, and doctors for whom the process of finding, renting, and setting up a space for a clinic is not accessible or affordable. Fully portable and made with all antibacterial materials, the product is also fully customizable.”

“The first pilot will be delivered within a month, along with a team that will be managing the operations of the unit,” says Youssef Farag, Qubix co-founder and COO. “And then we’re hoping to become a go-to option for all health providers, as well as providers of medical supplies.”

Founded in 2016 by two young entrepreneurs, Qubix has created and delivered over 50 unique shipping container buildings to clients in all sorts of industries. They say their prefabricated shipping container architecture saves up to 30 percent compared to conventional building methods, and they offer fully customizable projects based on each client’s needs and ideas.

Shipping containers have taken off over the last decade as a fast, cheap basis for buildings. They can have a lot of benefits, but only when they’re properly decontaminated, insulated, ventilated, and finished. Unfortunately, used shipping containers are often made with potentially toxic materials and used to transport toxic goods, and their interiors can get very hot and build up condensation. After all, they were originally made for goods, not humans.

While many shipping container building concepts are pure fantasy, with renderings depicting the crates stacked in ways that aren’t structurally sound, Qubix appears to take a more realistic approach. Most of their projects feature single-height shipping containers placed adjacent to each other, sometimes within a steel framework that adds on additional terraces, balconies, and usable rooftop space with stairs. The interiors are finished like a conventional building, and much of the exterior walls are replaced with large expanses of glass to make sure they feel bright and spacious.

The Qubix team explains that their members “share a dream that cannot be contained, we are fueled by believing we can do things better and faster than our competitors as well as attempt exciting and daring projects that others wouldn’t. Quality is synonymous with our brand and we will always strive to add value to our clients through our services and products which we constantly develop in order to stay fresh, unique, and innovative.”

The post Qubix is Turning Shipping Containers Into Portable Medical Clinics first appeared on Dornob.

Since Rodgers won JoJo’s heart over the course of eight crazy weeks in a competition with around 30 other bachelors, the couple remains happily committed to both each other and a new venture as the hosts of a property flipping show called Cash Pad on CNBC. But unlike typical home flips, Rodgers and Fletcher focus on small and unusual spaces like trailers and warehouses in an effort to help their owners prepare them for use as AirBnb rentals.

“Over the past year, we really started to think about this new trend of Airbnbs and short-term rentals,” Rodgers explains. “Every time we traveled, we enjoyed staying in them, and we saw a niche market we wanted to capture.”

One of the pair’s most recent projects was a rusty cargo trailer in an Austin, Texas backyard. Setting out with nothing but a plan and a TV crew, the couple quickly took the shipping container from trashy to treasure. And since there are already so many shipping container options on AirBnb, they knew they had to to find ways for their project to stand out against the competition.

For starters, they managed to figure out how to comfortably sleep four people inside it, with the bedroom offering a queen bed and a pull-out sofa sleeping two additional guests. To further combat the confining feeling, JoJo and Jordan also ensured that every window in the shipping container could act like a door and open completely, peeling away the side of the rental for easy access to the outdoors. Once outside, a wooden deck provides room for additional seating, an outdoor dining or grilling space, and a relaxing pad for stargazing. As with most tiny home experiences, the outdoor space is almost as important as the lodging itself here, so the pair took it upon themselves to throw in a second entertaining space complete with a fire pit and life-sized versions of games like Jenga and Connect Four.

The AirBnb was recently listed as a rental option after its corresponding episode aired on Cash Pad. Anyone interested in more information about how the space was converted from cold to cozy should definitely tune in and follow the drama as it unfolds.

Fletcher and Rodgers are assuming all the risk (i.e. paying for the renovations and providing the owners a standard monthly rate) of several AirBnb conversions for the sake of the show, with the belief that it’s a profitable endeavor and a good way to help homeowners complete their passion projects and fulfill their dreams of hosting a proper rental space. In exchange, the couple receives any additional rental income over the first four years the AirBnb is up and running.

Now that filming is wrapped up, Fletcher and Rodgers will be spending their time on their own housing and wedding dreams. The couple recently announced on Instagram that they bought their first non-flip house together, and that a wedding date isn’t set yet, but will likely be next spring or summer.

Bachelorette fans can continue to see what their favorite duo is up to every Tuesday on CNBC, with a total of eight one-hour episodes already out.

The post Look Inside Bachelorette Star JoJo Fletcher’s Shipping Container Airbnb first appeared on Dornob.

More than 1,000 New Yorkers came together to be photographed by the French artist for “The Chronicles of New York City,” a collaboration with architecture firm LOT-EK, who designed the stack of shipping containers hosting the mural in Williamsburg’s Domino Park. The mural is a compilation of images collaged together into an urban scene and reproduced on a tremendous scale. Overlooking the East River, it draws people into the newly completed park to engage with it via a smartphone app.

The Brooklyn Museum’s description of the artwork reads: “This soaring multimedia installation traces JR’s career from his early documentation of graffiti artists as a teenager in Paris to his large-scale architectural interventions in cities worldwide to his more recent digitally collaged murals that create collective portraits of diverse publics. The centerpiece of the exhibition is ‘The Chronicles of New York City,’ a new epic mural of more than 1,000 New Yorkers that is accompanied by audio recordings of each person’s story.”

“All of the projects on view honor the voices of everyday people and demonstrate JR’s ongoing commitment to community, collaboration, and civic discourse. Working at the intersections of photography, social engagement, and street art, JR collaborates with communities by taking individual portraits, reproducing them at a monumental scale, and wheat pasting them — sometimes illegally — in nearby public spaces.”

“The Chronicles of New York City” is the final work crowning the exhibition “JR: Chronicles,” the first major North American exhibition the artist’s works, which officially opened in October 2019. Set at the Brooklyn Museum, the show features murals, photographs, videos, films, dioramas, and archival materials spanning JR’s entire two-decade career.

You can also view close-ups of the Williamsburg mural itself, getting a better look at both the individuals featured in it and how the imagery was assembled. Some of the portraits are tucked into windows, or peeking out from the basement level of the brick building. Other subjects are dancing, performing stunts, or playing music. And it’s loads of fun to pick out humorous little details, like a group of people using extra-long straws to drink from soda bottles on a lower floor.

“JR: Chronicles” will be on view until May 3rd, 2020. Other murals can be seen at the Kings Theater in Flatbush and the Brooklyn Academy of Global Finance in Bedford-Stuyvesant, with even more set to appear through the run of the exhibition.

Check out more of JR’s work, including a giant optical illusion mural outside the Louvre Museum in Paris and a poignant US-Mexico border art installation featuring a Latino child peering over the wall. The latter was created as a response to President Trump’s attacks on DACA (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program), which protects people who were brought illegally to the United States as minors from deportation.

The post 1,000 New Yorkers Featured in JR’s Massive New Williamsburg Mural first appeared on Dornob.

Transforming shipping containers into housing is a trend that doesn’t seem to be slowing down, but are shipping container homes really a good — or even humane — solution?

Durable, portable, stackable, and plentiful, shipping containers are pretty easy to come by. There are approximately 36 million of them in the world, with about six million in active use at any given time. They’re only used within the shipping industry for a brief period before they’re decommissioned for quality control, too, so of course it makes sense to find ways to reuse them.

Architects and builders have turned so-called “cargotecture” into an industry in its own right. The novelty factor and apparent eco-friendliness of their incorporation into hotels, shops, restaurants, greenhouses, schools, libraries, and other types of buildings tends to get them a lot of attention, too. Because they’re made from strong materials like steel and aluminum and easy to move to new locations as needed, shipping containers are also a popular choice for emergency housing.

But in our rush to sing the praises of shipping container architecture, we might be failing to consider a few key points. First and foremost, there’s the fact that in order to be truly livable, they have to be modified quite a bit. They’re not insulated, not very good at resisting wind, and tend to build up a fair bit of condensation inside.

Once you do insulate them, you reduce a significant amount of the already-small interior space, and even then, energy-consuming air conditioning is often required to make them comfortable in summer. Interesting stacked arrangements look good in renderings, but the reality is that containers can only be stacked directly on top of each other as intended without needing a lot of extra fortification.

Used shipping containers tend to be a bit worse for the wear, not only in terms of scratches and dents, but also rust. The exteriors must be repainted every few years to keep them in good condition. Then there’s the fact that they’re often made with potentially toxic materials like chromate, lead-based paints, arsenic, and chromium, or used to transport toxic goods.

If you’re willing to put in a lot of effort, used cargo crates can still be a good choice for structures that people won’t be living inside. But the real problem comes in when they’re used for affordable housing. It’s worthwhile to remember that they aren’t always the best (or even cheapest) choice, never mind the fact that their overuse is altering the look of some cities for the worse.

Architect Mark Hogan of OpenScope Studio says that when architects propose shipping containers as a feasible solution to a major problem of housing shortages around the world, they’re not really thinking through what it’s actually like to live inside them.

“I know you’ve seen all the proposals, often done with an humanitarian angle (building slum housing, housing for refugees, etc.) that promises a factory-built ‘solution’ to the housing ‘problem’ but often positioned as a luxury product as well… 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.”

Hogan goes on to note that if you’re going to go through the trouble of prefabricating a structure, you might as well build them out to dimensions that are more appropriate for human habitation.

Dr. Richard J. Williams makes similar points in a recent editorial in The New York Times, saying we should all remember that shipping containers were made for things, not people.

“…The harsh landscape of the shipping container is a terrible shorthand for modernity. It’s not just the now-inescapable connotations of the migrant crisis. It’s that the people who’ve most celebrated the container form are precisely not the ones who’ve ever had to live in one: they can always go home, to a proper building somewhere else. And it’s that the shipping container suggests a world in which everything is contingent and temporary, and humans are doing little more than camping. That’s not the way to produce good offices, or housing, or cities.”

The post Shipping Container Architecture: Hot New Trend or Violation of Human Rights? first appeared on Dornob.

In this case, the sum is more than the parts – and the building footprint tells only half of the story. Push a button and things begin to unfold, revealing not just a deck but a lofted sleeping area and other pop-out amenities all hiding in the shell of a conventional cargo shipping container.

While it has evolved through various concepts and prototypes, the primary features of the Port-a-Bach cargo container home include “a fully enclosed exterior steel shell (when folded up), appointed with large internal storage cupboards and shelves / stainless steel kitchen and fittings / bathroom with open shower, sink, composting toilet. Fabric screen system gives the versatility of creating rooms within the large open living space: includes bunk beds, double bed room, dressing room, kitchen and bathroom.”

Outside, an “exterior canvas screen system allows to shelter the deck area for comfortable indoor/outdoor flow and living. 6 concrete footings form a stable, non-invasive ‘foundation’, allowing you to situate the unit on a wide range of ground conditions.”

Its mobility and significant flexibility of use are perhaps its key selling points, as well as its durability: close it down and lock it up when not in use and it can withstand the elements, as cargo containers were made to do.

“Atelier workshop believe up-cycling containers can be an effective answer for large scale projects and if portability, site access, robustness, security are issues. The Port-a-Bach prototype was built in Hangzhou, China and shipped to New Zealand. It is now part of the permanent collection of Puke Ariki Museum, New Plymouth. We have also developed prototypes of fittings that use the existing container connections to attached solar and wind equipment. Atelierworkshop’s Port-a-Bach is not in production but we do accept commissions to design customized container building solutions .”

“A HOLIDAY HOME
– portable,
– secure,
– high-level finish,
– designed to be environmentaly clean
– comparatively inexpensive,
– comfortably sleeps two adults and two children. “

Read more on the Bonnifait + Geisen website.

The post Fold-Out Shipping Container Home first appeared on Dornob.

The post Transforming Recycled Shipping Container House first appeared on Dornob.

It’s easy to assume that buildings made of shipping containers would feel like dark, dank echo chambers. But Containerwerk outfits each one of their modules with high-performance insulation, moisture barriers, soundproofing, and modern interior finishes — and this is all after they’ve given them a good scrubdown with industrial-grade cleaners. The company then paints their exteriors, installs doors and windows, and stacks them offset from each other to create shaded sheltered areas and upper-level terraces. Each container home is also equipped with solar panels and low-energy air conditioning and ventilation systems to meet the Passive House standard.

One container offers enough space for a single occupant, but two or more can be connected to accommodate families. Need more space later on? No problem, because it’s always easy to add on an extra unit. They’re also ideal for use as hotels, office spaces, and commercial units like retail stores. The interiors, exterior colors, windows, and other elements are all customizable, and every container can also be outfitted with wastewater systems and rainwater filtration for off-grid use.

Containerwerk believes that affordable housing with a small environmental footprint will soon be more important than ever. With stylish interiors laid out for various applications, they’re showing the world just how comfortable shipping container homes can be.

“The challenges facing architecture today are extremely diverse, regardless of whether it’s the living or working sector,” they say. “On a global scale, more and more people require more and more living space of a better standard, whereas with office and commercial space more flexibility and sustainability is demanded. Converted freight containers are perfectly suited to reacting to the numerous new demands. In terms of sustainability, energy efficiency, flexibility, and building cost security, the modular design based on a refined (freight) container presents a fascinating and architecturally exciting chance to create modern living and working areas.”

“On cargo ships that have to endure rough seas, wind, and weather, containers can be stacked up to nine units high merely connected with twist locks and bridge fittings. This method has been tested daily for the past thirty years. Individual containers can be easily connected to one another from all sides to create a larger floor space. Modular expansion or partitioning can therefore also take place retrospectively. We create mobile structures that can change their location at any time using standardized means of transport; in principle like toy building blocks for adults.”

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The post Qatar to Build Modular Soccer Stadium Out of Shipping Containers first appeared on Dornob.

Nothing like a good schwitz to get through cold and flu season, right? Or really, anytime of the year if you’re Scandinavian or Japanese or Icelandic, or … Hey, we are missing out! We need a sauna. In a box. Such as the wood burning sauna box by Toronto-based design studio Castor, built right into an 8x8x8-foot reclaimed shipping container.

It’s conveniently self-sufficient with a wood-fired stove and solar panel. But wait, there’s more. It comes with – in perfect man cave fashion – an electric guitar hookup. In case you want to shred while dripping for your health. There’s also an awesome, hand-carved limestone stool, an iPod stereo, truck light and, oddly, bronze antlers. The interior is done in Western red cedar and red steel. Cost? $41,000.

Since it creates its own power, you can set the Sauna Box up wherever you desire: your off-the-grid plot of land, your suburban backyard, or your flat rooftop (weight considerations allowing). When not in use, you just lock it up, like any box.

This little beast is sold by Matter, a gallery, showroom and manufacturer in NYC devoted to not just scouting and selling stuff, but providing a “platform for an ongoing conversation about design by the design community and the public alike.”

We’d certainly like to have a conversation about the electric guitar!

“This traditional wood-burning sauna is built into a shipping container. The Sauna Box is completely self-contained with solar power and a wood-fired stove. The box comes standard with iPod stereo, guitar hook-up, Castor Stool, magnetic truck light, wool toque and bronze antlers. The Sauna Box can be customized to suit the site.”

“Castor Design was established 2009 in Toronto. Led by Brian Richer and Kei Ng, Castor Design is committed to innovation in design. Its work tests the limits of materials, both in terms of aesthetic and structural properties, blurring the line between the practicality of engineering and the indulgence of art.”

“Castor Design’s products involve thoughtful experimenting with process and techniques, finding new ways to use familiar materials. The Recycled Tube Light earned Castor their reputation for recontextualizing; the attention to narrative is maintained throughout their lines of lighting, furniture, and accessories.”

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