At home in a shipping container

I confess; I'm an HGTV junkie. I watch the channel so frequently, I often begin watching a program only to realize I've seen it before. However, a recent Small Space episode was new to me and really captured my attention. A departure from the traditional building, remodeling, decorating, and landscaping fare, this episode, Small But Spectacular, featured a segment called Cargotecture, about two architects who constructed a weekend retreat from two steel cargo shipping containers. The architects have proposed shipping container homes for the Seattle waterfront area redevelopment.

The episode piqued my curiosity enough that I wanted to know more about the containers and possible uses beyond shipping goods and creating eyesores in neighborhoods adjacent to container storage yards. It seems I'm not the only one interested in the topic.

The Aug. 1 CNN.com featured a video report Home, sweet shipping container? According to the report, 7 million containers carrying imports arrived at L.A. ports in 2005, and only 2.5 million containers were exported, leaving a huge surplus piling up in storage yards—shades of the trade deficit. Many of these steel containers are preinsulated and have hardwood floors. Because of materials shortages and the exorbitant price of creating traditional housing in L.A. ($250 per square foot), some architects now are looking at shipping container architecture.

In her article Innovative architects turn used shipping containers into homes that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle's SFGate.com, Carol Lloyd wrote, "Hurricane proof, flood proof, fire proof, these metal Lego blocks are tough enough to be stacked 12-high empty—and thus can be used in smaller multistory buildings. Used containers (which can be picked up for $1,500 to $2,000) often have teak floors and sometimes are insulated. The bright orange, blue, and rust corrugated boxes may not appeal to everyone. But contemporary hipsters find them not just the ultimate in postmodern appropriation but aesthetically pleasing as well."

The article also stated that using shipping containers as buildings isn't a new concept. Examples of designers incorporating shipping containers into residential designs date back to 1982, and institutions like the military have been using the structures as temporary offices, bunkhouses, and showers for some time. A sampling of actual shipping container habitable structures can be found here.

Putting these surplus containers to good use is a great idea. Perhaps creative metal fabricators might be able to find other profitable ways to recycle them until we begin exporting more than we're importing.

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