Shipping Containers - useful for shipping and living in
Shipping Container
This is a shipping container. Traditionally, shipping containers are used for the intermodal shipment (shocking, right?) of goods, food, and basically anything else that needs to be shipped via various transportation methods.
We love when people break tradition.
There’s a new-ish trend in home building that we want to highlight: shipping container homes. If you’re like us, your initial thought would be, “Why on earth would someone want to live inside a metal box??”. Then you’d realize that it’s a metal box and can be altered. Which is exactly what these architects and their clients did.
Below, we highlight 2 beautiful shipping container houses and how they got “Repurpia’d” and went from transportation box to home.
Note: we won’t get into the technical details of the construction/retrofit but just general ideas and observations
Huiini House – Mexico
First up we have the Huiini House in Mexico just west of Guadalajara in the Primavera Forest. It’s made up of 4 shipping containers totaling approx. 1,200 square feet.
To make the shipping containers livable, the walls were lined with insulation to maintain the interior temperature. Additionally, the exterior was likely refinished in order to avoid rust.
Probably one of my favourite features of this home are the massive windows that can be open or shut depending on the weather and eventually the home will have sun-powered cells.
CAAN Design has a great article on the Huiini House on their website along with more pictures.
12-Container House in Blue Hill, Maine
This 12-Container House (yes, that’s actually what it is called) was designed by Adam Kalkin of Industrial Zombie and is located in Maine. With 4,000 square feet of living space, this home is beautifully done with massive windows to let in tons of natural light and two fireplaces – in case the residents get cold and the insulation & heating system isn’t quite cutting it.
The home features a beautiful library (my favourite part of this house – hence why it’s pictured to the left), four bedrooms, and three bathrooms. There is an over-sized garage door in the living room/kitchen/dining area that looks like it opens up onto the deck – what a great feature for the summer!
Without getting into too much detail on the alterations to the shipping containers necessary, the entire home is well insulated, a heating system installed and cement slab floors throughout. From the photos, it in no way looks like a home made up of shipping containers.
More photos and details can be found on Industrial Zombie’s Facebook page and this great article on Today.
Sources:
https://www.archdaily.com/777626/huiini-house-s-plus-diseno
https://www.trendir.com/4-shipping-containers-prefab-plus-1-for-guests/
http://confoot.fi/en/shipping-containers-last-average-lifespan/
https://www.trendir.com/modern-shipping-container-homes/
https://www.today.com/home/yes-spacious-home-made-shipping-containers-see-inside-t79831