While shipping containers are great for building affordable and comfortable homes quickly, not all architects are quite sold on their benefits. Many, however, still find the basic shape a great inspiration for designing their homes. Below are a few shipping container inspired homes, which are not actually built out of shipping containers. But some of them, nonetheless, do use very innovative building blocks.
Homebox
Homebox was designed by the German architect Han Slawik and has the same dimensions as a standard sized shipping container, though the house is not made from an actual steel shipping container. The architect simply took the best shipping container architecture has to offer, but applied it in an easier to construct and maintain way. The Homebox is made of wood and designed to be placed vertically to form a three-story home with a tiny footprint of only 75 square feet. The finished house has a living area of 150 square feet, with a kitchen, dining room and bathroom on the ground floor, a bedroom on the second floor and the main living area on the third floor.
Dumpster Home
California-based artist and designer Gregory Kloehn, used a new dumpster to build a tiny, fully functional home big enough for 2 people to live in. The dumpster cost $2,000 and he converted it to contain a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and even a sun deck. Gregory started the conversion by cutting out an entrance into the side of the container. He insulated the dumpster with padding and fitted a small sitting area inside it. The living area transforms into a bedroom and there is storage space built into the sitting area. The dumpster also contains a tiny kitchen with a sink, a microwave, and a small propane-powered stove. Gregory lives in his dumpster home when he visits NYC, though the home is also mounted on wheels so it can conceivably be transported to anywhere.
Petroleum Tank Trailer Loft
Another great cargotecture inspired home idea is the loft built out of a disused petroleum tank. The structure is called the Morton Loft and was designed by the firm LOT-EK. They used the tanker trailer to create 2 sleeping areas and 2 bathrooms, thereby extending the available apartment space of the owners. They first cut the tank into 2 sections, and then suspended the first section, which houses the 2 bedrooms, over the existing living space. They positioned the other half vertically and built two fully functional bathrooms inside it. The interior was coated with automotive enamel. For easier opening and closing of the bedroom doors, they equipped the pods with a hydraulic hatchback door so the occupants need only press a button to gain access to the bedroom. This renovation added valuable space to the 1000 square foot apartment, since the entire downstairs area can now be used as the main living area, which contains the kitchen, living room and dining room.
Related Articles on JetsonGreen.com:
Awesome Shipping Container Homes in New York City
Florida Company Designs and Builds Shipping Container Homes
Shipping Container-Inspired House Idea
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