Crate Expectations: 12 Shipping Container Housing Ideas

Judging by the three most popular posts in TreeHugger, it seems that much of our readership wants to green their sex life in front of a pellet stove in a shipping container house. And why not? Shipping containers are cheap, plentiful and strong. I grew up surrounded by containers ( my dad's company designed the Kalkinesque warehouse shown above for Northern Canada in the seventies) and always thought the interior dimensions too small, the floors too toxic and the problems of insulating and making them comfortable too challenging, but dozens of architects and shipping container designs have proven me wrong. Let's count the ways.

Single Container Units

Porta-Bach

A bach "is the name given in New Zealand to structures akin to small, often very modest holiday homes or beach houses.They are an iconic part of New Zealand history and culture." Wp

Cecile Bonnifait and William Giesen of atelier workshop have built a bach out of a box, a 20' shipping container.This isn't easy to do; they are narrow inside. They pulled it off by having one side of the container fold down to open it up to the outdoors; suddenly it is bright and open. (much like the All-terrain Cabin) Every inch of it is used cleverly, even the container doors become support for a bed. Port-a-Bach Shipping Container Holiday Home

All-Terrain Cabin

Take an easy-to handle 20' ISO container frame. Outfit it with folding walls and the best in Canadian design. "The result is as smart as it is efficient, suitable for a family of four and a pet to live off the grid in comfort and contemporary style. It travels by train, truck, ship, airplane or helicopter, folded up and indistinguishable from any ordinary shipping container. Once it arrives, it unfolds rapidly to 480sf of self-contained, sophisticated living space with all the comforts of home.All Terrain Cabin

Ecopods

Dwight Doerkson has developed "an affordable eco friendly building that’s transportable and doesn’t need to be hooked up to the grid"- out of shipping containers. He cuts out an entire wall and hinges it, so when you want to leave your ecopod you simply flip a switch and a solar powered winch pulls up the deck and closes up the box.Ecopods: Shipping Container Housing Available Now

Future Shack

Aussie architect Sean Godsell's small masterpiece is a refugee housing unit made from a ready-made, re-used shipping container. Super-efficient and simple, but made to last and protect, the unit uses a bare minimum of industry materials. Since it's entirely self-contained, a number of units can be shipped together to their destination of need. It's solar powered, too.FutureShack by Sean Godsell

Push-Button House

"Shipping container prefab houses certainly aren't anything new (we featured them some time ago, here) but the latest incarnation from architect/artist Adam Kalkin is pretty darn slick, so we had to mention it. The Push Button House is exactly that: it starts as a shipping container until a button is pushed, and it turns into a house. Motorized walls unfold like a flower, revealing a fully functional house, complete with refined, understated furnishings." -well, not really, given that there is no roof or walls or plumbing, Collin overstated it, calling it a fully functional house. But it is a good conversation piece.Push-Button House by Adam Kalkin
Next: Multi-Container Designs