What the Chinese think about shipping container home construction and design:

The Chinese say that every perceived problem holds opportunities. And so it is with the current need for low cost and emergency housing. Not all solutions come by design. Some arrive disguised as problems. Some arrive by happenstance. And some arrive… by boat!

One level at which this problem can be addressed is recycling. Just in general, it’s a good thing to recycle materials that otherwise have no further use for their intended purpose, and this holds true here. But to what use should we put 8,000 lbs of steel? An idea whose time seems to have arrived is the use of stockpiled shipping containers to build prefab homes. Why not take something just going to waste and difficult to dispose of and turn it into something useful? Making a building (which can last and last) out of what is essentially a huge piece of industrial waste takes recycling to a whole new level. Few ideas can compete with the pragmatic beauty of this one.

Prefab shipping container housing can represent a real solution to some social and ecological problems. Low cost housng built using a minimal amount of energy and a maximum ofrenewable resources is the second deree of reparation. One shipping container can form the basis for a small, low cost home.

For some people, it’s hard to imagine that a shipping container, a steel box that might have just brought a load of wheat across an ocean, can be transformed into a comfortable home. But that skepticism quickly fades once they tour a prefab shipping container home. They are actually quite spacious. Two generous bedrooms ( or a bedroom and an office ), a bathroom and a kitchen are an easy fit in just one container. which can be as large as 20-by-48-feet.

Take a country like Costa Rica, for example. The value of land has increased to a level where only foreigners can afford to own property and some Costa Ricans who were once property owners are being displaced or have become employees of the new landowners. The cost of conventional building materials has also risen prohibitively. Used shipping containers are a viable and worldwide option for many people in this position.

They can also be the answer to more affordable housing for families worldwide. Container homes can be a great solution for third world countries with housing problems.

One container can form the basis for a small, low cost home. Multiple containers can be used as building blocks to create larger and more permanent structures. The containers are manufactured to be stacked as much as nine high without compromising their structural integrity so second or third stories are no problem. And low income apartment buildings are beginning to emerge on the landscape.