Shipping container housing designers

Have you considered downsizing your living area?  Last week I wrote an article on tiny houses there are also people that are moving into tiny apartments in making a lot of space out of small apartment sizes of around 38 – 40 m² in living area. Clever use of space and some changes can see couples or even a couple with a child living in this area. Living in smaller spaces can be offset with intelligent flexible design and use of space.  Apartments in New York and Europe have started focusing on good design rather than size.
In New Zealand the Christchurch City Council crackdown on people living and unsightly shipping containers and tiny homes.  There were many people considered to be flouting the grey area of what constitutes a home especially since the Christchurch earthquakes.  A New Zealand supplier of tiny homes said in the press that he could effectively be out of business the council took a hard line and increased council requirements would increase also budget costs of construction of tiny homes.
shipping container homes in Christchurch backyard

Then again,  then again the Christchurch City Council legislation was designed to combat the unsightly appearance of many shipping containers springing up and carried with it penalty notices to fix or remove the shipping container or tiny home before handing out further penalties of $1000 fines.

Shipping container homes

If you check YouTube for example you can see that there is a lot of videos on shipping container homes. There is also material for downloading from Amazon.com Kindle.
Globally there are many creative architects who have put together some amazing shipping home projects.  These are not single shipping container builds but feature multiple containers stacked in varying arrangements or living area sizes.
Many of the shipping container homes are built with bold colours, textures contrasting and transparent elements.
There are many examples overseas to give inspiration for home designs including;  This list is by no means exhaustive but their web pages will give you some inspiration.
International architects and designers that have worked specifically with shipping containers.
  • Adam Kalkin. A designer that works with shipping containers and features some honours website.
  • Marcio Kogan and Brazilian designer – website was having some issues at the time of writing.
  • Patrick Partouche – a French architect that has worked with shipping container projects.
  • Benjamin Garcia Saxe – has constructed multiple design angles and uses of containers keeping in line economical construction.
  • James and Mau architects based in Spain but with offices in Chile and Colombia.
  • Walter Scott Perry – Heads up Ecotech, a US based architectural firm.
  • Building Lab Inc. An architectural firm based in Oakland, California.

Examples of Australian shipping container home projects

Ziegler build offer a consultancy service based in Queensland.  And also deal with consultation in different construction forms such as shipping containers and helping through each stage of the development process.
An example of a project that was completed in Brisbane included a private residence that was built out of 31 shipping containers on a 706 m² site and having a total floor area of 560 m².
Queensland shipping container home builders architects
Ziegler build shipping container home. Image from the companies web page.
The build time was approximately 5 ½ months and completed in July 2013.  The home itself was spread three lead over levels and you can find out more on the Ziegler build website.

Shipping container house in Victoria

The ABC’s RN program has an article on shipping container homes.  The article featured a home being built where containers could be bought for as little as $2,000 each.  The project was designed by architect  Geoffrey Fulton of Sean Godsell.com and built by an owner builder in country Victoria. You might also want to check out Phooey which is a Melbourne based architectural firm.
Photograph above is a shipping container home being built in Victoria.  The photograph below is the home finished. Featured on ABC radios RN program – photo credits abc.net.au/RN

So what else can shipping containers be used for?

Lifestyle.com.au had an article about shipping container swimming pools when I was researching this post.  It’s really what you call a perfect solution for anyone in Brisbane, Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast for that matter looking for a cheap swimming pool.  Rather than spending loads of money digging giant big hole in your backyard, spending loads of money and filling with water you can build a swimming pool cheaply and with some portability.  The company is based in Queensland and is trading as shipping container pools.  The company sells accessories to the swimming pool including fibreglass inlay, steps, small wooden decking and filtration systems.
Apparently from what I have been reading the cost to install a shipping container pool is around half of what a standard inground swimming pool cost.  As shipping container swimming pool be around $20,000 more less and can provide a solution for those who rent a home given it as above ground and portable and have it reasonable backyard to have a swim in summer.
Image of above ground shipping container swimming pool was sourced from the shipping container pools Facebook page.

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