Ever wondered when you saw those shipping containers on a train or cargo ship- ‘ hey, that actually would make a great home to live in’. Well, they do, and people are moving in. Plus, they’re stronger than an average house, are movable, and above all they’re affordable. Check out this list of 15 homes fashioned completely out of shipping containers.
1. MDU shipping container home
If you’ve ever lived in a shipping container home or have an idea about constructing one, you’ll be aware that the problem is not length but the width of the container which gives the home a cramped, cold, and boring look. The Mobile Dwelling Unit or simply MDU is different as it’s wide, relaxing and suave on the inside.
The house has a standard 40-foot cargo container with eight elements sliding and folding out from the core central container structure which includes a kitchen, bathroom, bed, desk, sofa, reading nook and a pantry. Add a simple light plywood panels and bright red-painted highlights to the interior, and you have a home that is comfortable and elegant.
2. Ecopod
The Ecopod is a shipping container house of the future. Almost every inch of the house is made from recycled goods, which makes this living space a responsible and effective alternative. The interior boasts of flooring made from post-consumer tire rubber, walls made with magnesium oxide compounds, a soy-based insulation, and a watermill for drinking water. The Ecopod is also completely self-reliant and just needs an 80 watt solar panel to keep it going.
3.Port-a-Bach
This home on-the-go can rolled into place, folded down one side, and almost carried with you. This 20-foot container has been outfitted with an entire studio apartment, including a kitchen and a full bath with a composting toilet. Although it might throw up some privacy issues, but the Port-a-Bach is small, energy efficient, designed to be environmentally clean and easy to hook up to services. All you need to take it vacationing with you is a 16-wheeler or a chopper.
4. Crossbox
This modern residence is clad in a low-maintenance material with a sleek finish, while the inside is kept simple and bright. A Crossbox home is composed of four “containers”, two on the bottom and two on the top stacked crosswise, with living and dining areas on the bottom and bedrooms up top.
5.The Manifesto House
Made out of shipping containers and wooden pallets, this house is a perfect mix of eclectic styling and intelligent finishing. The wooden pallets, apart from giving the home a brilliant texture, naturally cool the house because of the easy air-flow through the slats.
6. Greentainer
Made of completely stripped down shipping containers and then wrapped in glass, the Greentainer is designed specifically for public spaces. Office space, lounge, or transparent chill-zones; the Greentainer takes off the stress just by looking at it.
7. Redondo Beach House
This hybrid house makes the best of the containers and minimizes its worst (narrow inside). The advantages of making a hybrid structure allows the complex interiors; the kitchens and bathrooms to be prefabricated elsewhere.
8. Espace
The Espace home is as customizable as your car, allowing you to pick and choose from a variety of features- everything from size and configuration to roofing, balcony, and interior material options. A structure optimized for energy conservation and heat retention makes it a perfect match for a green backyard.
9. Modern shipping container home in Houston
Made by developers Katie Nichols and John Walker along with architect Christopher Robertson out of 4 shipping containers from nearby ports, this house is constructed with the help of advanced techniques which gives it a sturdy upper hand. One of the advantages of working with shipping containers is the flexibility it offers in its positioning. You can almost pile it up any way you want. The high cubes (40 foot) make up the living room and the standard (20 foot) ones serves as a galley kitchen. One of the high cubes is also used as a guest cottage.Their 6 inch fiberglass insulation is cool enough to be used by NASA for their shuttle boosters!
10. Illy Push Button House
This hydraulic-powered house opens up with a button, slowly, over the course of 90 seconds. The kitchen, bedroom, dining area, which unfurls with a push of a button is completely made from recycled material. Adam Kalkin, the designer, may have just opened up new doors for disaster-relief housing, exhibition spaces or a sustainable homes.
11.Adam Kalkin’s Quik House
Another prefab house designed by Adam Kalkin which can be put together in 8 weeks into a boxy 2000 sq ft house- three bedrooms and two and one-half baths included.
12. Prefab Sustainable Housing Made From Recycled Shipping Containers
The framework of shipping containers are used to create the basic structure of the residential house. the E-House successfully combines container architecture with residential housing to provide environmentally-responsible design and construction to the housing marketplace. Ranging in size from 740-square-feet to 1300-square-feet, the homes are assembled off-site and then shipped to the specified location.
13. Linx Shipping Container Shelter
Designed by Dublin-based Richard Barnwall, the Linx is meant to be a laid-back temporary container shelter for workers on construction sites, making the breaks all the more comfortable and refreshing.
14. Container House by Leger Wanaselja
Their take on containers houses was to stretch the limits of how green one could go. Leger Wanaselja Architecture repurposed refrigerated shipping containers which provides insulation, and a built-in structural frame.Even the shipping container doors were repurposed as retaining walls.To top it, the addition of solar tubes for day lighting, energy star appliances just makes this home a dedicated and completely hard-earned green venture.
15. LOT-EK Container Home Kit
These cargo container houses can accommodate anywhere from 640-2560 square feet, and is fully equipped and ready to plop on-site with built-in electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and insulation. It’s fully-equipped conceptually as well, making practical use of the world’s surplus of ISO cargo containers while exploiting the inherent structural qualities of the containers themselves.