Big, strong and seemingly unbreakable — shipping containers are a great place to start for a new style of building!
The Cubes, Cove Park. Photograph: Cove Park
One of the wonders of the modern world is that you can stick something in a shipping container, send it off with thousands of other boxes, and see it land anywhere on earth. But, how do you get rid of shipping containers when you don’t want them anymore? They’re massive, sturdy and seemingly indestructible.
One thing you can do is recycle them — and unlike toy building blocks, they actually make rather good houses!
1. Container City, Trinity Buoy Wharf, London
Container City. Photograph: naughty architect
Container City started life as a three-story complex when it was built in 2001 — taking four days to install and five months to finish. However, the flexible residential and office space proved to be so popular that a fourth story was added, extending the project to a total of 20 containers, used over 15 properties.
Container City. Photograph: fairlybuoyant
Over 80% of all the building materials used for the project were recycled, while this construction technique can halve the cost of projects in which it is used.
Riverside Building. Photograph: Fin Fahey
Urban Space Management, the team behind Container City, wasn’t satisfied with leaving the project at that. Container City II was built in 2002 (using 30 containers to build 22 units), while the Riverside Building, shown above, was added in 2005. Sitting on the Thames opposite the O2 (formerly known as the Millenium Dome) the building uses 73 containers to create 22 units over five floors.
2. Zigloo Domestique, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
Zigloo Domestique. Photograph: Keith Dewey
When Keith Dewey decided that he wanted to make affordable, designer living spaces to slot into the urban world, his mind hit on using containers as “architectural building blocks” to achieve an innovative “residustrial” style. In late 2006, he completed the Zigloo Domestique concept home, in which he lives with his wife and daughter, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island.
Zigloo Domestique. Photograph: Keith Dewey
It took eight months to complete the project, welding eight 20-foot containers into place. Now his company, Zigloo, specializes in recycling containers, using them to find “sustainable solutions to building technologies.”
3. Holyoke Cabin, Minnesota
Holyoke Cabin. Photograph: RO/LU
Paul Stankey and his wife Sara, brother Paul and sister-in-law Krista built this amazing cabin retreat in the Minnesota woods, near Holyoke, using only birch wood, two $800 container units and their bare hands. Due to the cabin’s remote location, it was constructed without access to electricity or running water, so, to make cement, water had to be pumped from a nearby creek and then trucked over. It looks like the trouble was worth it, though!
Holyoke Cabin. Photograph: RO/LU
The cabin was such a success that Stankey started a new subsidiary of his Hive Mind firm, specializing in prefab shipping container living units that can be delivered to wherever they might be wanted.
4. Freitag Shop, Zurich
Freitag Shop. Photograph: Micha L. Rieser
Zurich’s Freitag shop is one colossal shipping container building, including 17 containers and standing 85 feet (or nine containers) high. Sitting between railway tracks and an overpass, the tower overlooks the road that originally inspired the Freitag brothers to make messenger bags out of recycled truck tarpaulins in the early ’90s — which eventually made them famous.
Outside the Freitag Shop. Photograph: daisybush
Built in May 2006, the shop features four levels of display space as well as a viewing platform at the top of the building.
5. Cove Park, Rosneath, U.K.
The Cubes, Cove Park. Photograph: Cove Park
Talk about an amazing location for a shipping container home! The Rosneath-based arts center, Cove Park, overlooks the stunning Loch Long in Scotland, and, since 2002, has had a set of container buildings, known as The Cubes. The first three Cubes housed accommodation units, while another two sets of three were built in 2006, as additional residential and studio units.
The Cubes, Cove Park. Photograph: Cove Park
The buildings were designed by Urban Space Management, a firm that didn’t just build the Cove Park Cubes, but developed a whole city of containers in London as seen above!
6. The View Tube, London
The View Tube. Photograph: sludgegulper
The View Tube is a community venue close to London’s Olympic Park in the East End, which houses a café as well as arts and education spaces, and offers a panoramic view over the Stratford City and the Olympic venue.
The View Tube. Photograph: Tiredoflondon
While it is currently in the middle of a large building site, it is apparently the first venue to be completely finished for the 2012 Olympics.
7. Prefabricated shipping container
Prefabricated shipping container. Photograph: One Cool Habitat
Built by One Cool Habitat, this prefab container design is, well, one cool habitat. The units are built with an open layout, so you can do whatever you want with them and they are light enough that they can be shipped anywhere in the world. As the company puts it, it’s “your space, your way.”
8. Platoon Complex, Berlin
Platoon Complex. Photograph: p373
Platoon’s shipping container Berlin base of operations consists of a three-story tower containing a studio/office overlooking a swimming pool and performance space, which has played host to such events as a Foosball tournament.
9. Container House, Havana
Container House. Photograph: Paul Keller
Building materials are hard to come by in Cuba’s capital, which is perhaps why this two-story building has been constructed from old containers. With a staircase running to the second story, these are probably two separate properties and have been fitted out with wire mesh windows and cooling fans. This particular house is just one of many, in a long row, found near a building site in Havana’s city center.
10. Redondo Beach House, Redondo Beach, CA
Redondo Beach House. Photograph: Martin Schall
Designed by Peter DeMaria, the Redondo Beach House was built in 2006 using eight recycled containers. As well as winning several awards, it is reported to be the first two-story container house in the U.S. to abide by the Uniform Building Code. DeMaria describes the concept behind the design as being the idea of “architecture as a product.”
Ten Recycled Shipping Container Buildings « Netcrema – creme de la social news via digg + delicious + stumpleupon + reddit
July 22nd, 2010
[...] Ten Recycled Shipping Container Buildings1800recycling.com [...]
Jean Stephan
July 22nd, 2010
Need to know more regarding building and , durability, maintenance techniques, photos from inside…any hints please
Top 3 Most Incredible Shipping Container Homes · TechBlogger
July 23rd, 2010
[...] Shipping containers are great for transporting things, but the latest trend has been converting them into fully livable homes, and even building complexes. Continue reading to see them all, inspired by 1800recycling. [...]
Raph
July 23rd, 2010
these ones are missing:
http://www.jetsongreen.com/2010/05/container-crossbox-with-a-green-roof.html
http://www.jetsongreen.com/2010/05/container-studio-space-in-new-york.html
cheers
Top 3 Most Incredible Shipping Container Homes | Worlddragon.net
July 23rd, 2010
[...] Shipping containers are great for transporting things, but the latest trend has been converting them into fully livable homes, and even building complexes. Continue reading to see them all, inspired by 1800recycling. [...]
Top 3 Most Incredible Shipping Container Homes | Products & Tech News
July 23rd, 2010
[...] Shipping containers are great for transporting things, but the latest trend has been converting them into fully livable homes, and even building complexes. Continue reading to see them all, inspired by 1800recycling. [...]
Geoff
July 23rd, 2010
This was the best use of a shipping container I’ve ever seen. Quite impressive.
http://www.boxmanstudios.com/
living | Top 3 Most Incredible Shipping Container Homes
July 23rd, 2010
[...] Shipping containers are great for transporting things, but the latest trend has been converting them into fully livable homes, and even building complexes. Continue reading to see them all, inspired by 1800recycling. [...]
Container Homes
July 23rd, 2010
The ViewTube project is a new to me, very pleased I stopped and took the time to read your article, thanks.
10 Most Incredible Shipping Container Houses [Pics] | All Mint No Hole
July 23rd, 2010
[...] One of the wonders of the modern world is that you can stick something in a shipping container, send it off with thousands of other boxes, and see it land anywhere on earth. But, how do you get rid of shipping containers when you don’t want them anymore? They’re massive, sturdy and seemingly indestructible. One thing you can do is recycle them — and unlike toy building blocks, they actually make rather good houses! Read ahead [...]
10 Most Incredible Shipping Container Houses [Pics] - anacristina's posterous
July 23rd, 2010
[...] unbreakable, shipping containers are a great place to start for a new style of building!Source:http://1800recycling.com/2010/07/recycled-shipping-container-buildings/ Posted less than a minute ago document.observe('dom:loaded', function() { [...]
Top 3 Most Incredible Shipping Container Homes | Teh Lolz
July 23rd, 2010
[...] fully livable homes, and even building complexes. Continue reading to see them all, inspired by 1800recycling. Uncategorized ← Twitter gets serious with its own milestone – a custom data [...]
Top 3 Most Incredible Shipping Container Homes | Tech Blog
July 23rd, 2010
[...] fully livable homes, and even building complexes. Continue reading to see them all, inspired by 1800recycling. Uncategorized ← I can’t believe it’s not Flash! Can you tell which ads are [...]
Home Garden
July 26th, 2010
[...] Ten Recycled Shipping Container Buildings | 1-800-Recycling [...]
Sam S
August 5th, 2010
check out the final constrcution photos of the DeMaria Redondo Beach house…nice place…
http://demariadesign.com/1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52&Itemid=27
Juliane
August 11th, 2010
So creative! I especially love the unfinished style of the Holyoke cabin. They are all inviting, leaves me wondering about the interior design and square footage. Super cool!
Juliane
wall art
George Runkle
August 12th, 2010
I particularly like the Freitag building because of how high they stacked the containers. The Redondo Beach house is amazing also, and I would like to point out that my company structurally designed the first shipping container house in Atlanta, and it also complies with the International Building Code. We’re now building the second container house, and it also complies with the IBC. It’s not hard to do, but to be in compliance you have to fully analyze the structure, which has to be done with a computer. It’s the only way to model all of the parts of the building.
It’s been a struggle to design these because we don’t have traditional standard details to work with, and really no references. The books I’ve read that can be purchased over the web are really a waste of money, they are short on the necessary technical details on how to actually do this. In the end what my company has had to do is to learn by experience – see what works well and what doesn’t as we put these up.
George
Jose Gonzalez
September 27th, 2010
Looking for help identifying the applicable code and standards that affect shipping container buildings. We generally use ICC, IBC, or FBC. Please email me any useful links or contact me offline.
metal buildings
January 16th, 2011
As we’re on Ten Recycled Shipping Container Buildings – 1-800-Recycling, Metal building kits are sturdy, inexpensive and they’re merely assembled and disassembled. In case that you are environmentally pleasant, you are able to be pleased to understand that as a result of these kits do not have any waste, landsite fills won’t be burdened with extra dumping. And metal is 100% recyclable.
tOM Trottier
March 17th, 2011
So what’s the safe stacking limit? How high can you go?
tOM
George Runkle
March 18th, 2011
I’ve structurally designed up to a 5 story building, and I did a concept calculation on 8 stories. When you get above 5 stories you have to add cross bracing. Above 3 stories the foundations get really large to keep them from overturning. All of this of course is dependent on where the building is going up, and the configuration.
For Codes, I design per the IBC, and use the AISI Manual of Cold Formed Construction and AISC Manual of Steel Construction for design criteria and ASCE 7 for wind, seismic, and live loads.
George
Top 9 Houses made from Shipping Containers | Marine Insight
January 3rd, 2012
[...] 1800recycling , apartmenttherapy , weburbanist , green.yahoo [...]
Terry
April 20th, 2013
I think these container buildings are cool.i had a neighbor before who had bought an old 18 wheeler trailer.he set it up on concrete block foundation,then took the rear axle and wheels out and sold them to a man who wanted to buy it.i got to go inside it one time,and it was so neat inside.and much larger inside than i thought.they seem much larger on the inside than you think they are from seeing them on the outside.
Alexis Klatt
April 22nd, 2013
Where do you buy them & how much do they cost?