The city of Mumbai, India is facing quite a shortage of adequate living spaces, so a project has been proposed for a temporary housing solution in the form of a two towers made of used shipping containers. The towers were designed by CRG Architects who decided on a cylinder shape for the structures, which they deemed the best way to take into considerations the terrain and offer all the occupants great views and good ventilation.
The structures were dubbed Containscrapers and will be constructed by stacking the containers in a way that offers a larger façade, and thereby lets more light into the units. Due to the cylindrical shape of the main tower volume, the shipping containers used will also be placed in various different positions, which allows for good natural ventilation via a steady air-flow and will greatly reduce the heat in each apartment. Given the hot climate of Mumbai, and the fact that shipping containers are basically large metal boxes, this is a must.
The core of both towers will be made with containers in a vertical position, allowing elevator units to be housed in one of each of the containers in an upright position. From the renders it appears the shipping containers used to build these structures will not be modified a lot, apart from cutting out windows and doors. The shipping containers will simply be stacked in a way that grants the towers the necessary stability.
The structure will also have a number of vertical gardens placed along the height of the building. These gardens will work to separate the apartment units and aid in the dissipation of heat in the summer. The facade will also be colored according to the orientation of the buildings and in relation to the sun, namely warm colors on the south facing side, and cold colors on the north facing side. This is also meant to offset the heat buildup in the units. Still, I am not convinced that in a hot climate like this, comfortable interior temperatures can be reached without some air conditioning.
Related Articles on JetsonGreen.com:
Manifesto House is Built From Three Shipping Containers
Student Housing Built From Shipping Containers
Upcycle House Built From Used Shipping Containers
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.