Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Shipping Containers as Building
Components for Home Construction.
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There are “what to do” and “how to do
it” articles for container home and non
container home applications. Bear in mind,
that a shipping container house is just a small
steel building and much of the information/
detailing of steel buildings (and wood
framed as well) is applicable and relevant to
shipping container home building as well.
The details of the steps and stages require
to turn recycled shipping containers into
shipping container homes and buildings.
Including (but not limited to) feasibility,
budgeting, scheme design, technical
hurdles, site concerns, foundation, envelope,
modifying structure, passive enhancements,
construction documents, and permitting.
Many are looking to containers today for their
building projects.
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Conceive It.
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Container Architecture
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Concern yourself with big picture issues. Like, can
you build a house(s) on the land/site, and what is the
maximum square footage you can build. It is also
important to get a list of what drawings, permits and
inspections, including fees, will be required. Find out
what drawings must be professionally stamped as well.
You should also check if their are any deed restrictions
on your title. Some jurisdictions dictate zoning and
planning in deeds, especially subdivisions.
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Passive vs. Active heating and cooling
There are two types of building designs. Those that embrace the site, and those that
impose themselves on the site. The house pictured above on the left is Frank Lloyd
Wright’s solar hemicycle Jacob’s house. The house on the right is Mies van der Rohe’s
Farnsworth house. Both are icon’s of 20th century modern architecture built/designed
by masters. They are both comparative in size, use, and initial project budget. The
maintenance and yearly energy expense for the two however, are substantially
different. The contrast is due to the buildings’ different shapes, orientations, and wall/
surface materials.
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Picking where to build on site
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Landscaping and shading
are very effective passive
design strategies. When
you consider where
to locate your house/
building on site try to take
advantage of as much
existing greenery as
possible. The location of
dense, coniferous trees on
the elevation against the
prevailing wind (usually
west or northwest) may
decrease heat loss due to
infiltration and wind chill
factor in the winter. Sites
with deciduous shade
trees can reduce summer
solar gain if positioned
properly on the south and
west elevations of the
buildings.
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Views and privacy will
also be important things
to consider. Every site
is different and has its
own potentials. If you
don't already have a land
survey of the site, it's
probably a good time to
get one done. They're full
of relevant information
and could bring things
to your attention (like
easements and utility
access locations) that
you're unaware of. If you
are lucky you received
one when you purchased
the land or will be able to
get one from the record
files of your building
department.
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Approach
You should have a good
sense of your site, your
budget, and a rough
conceptual design for your
shipping container home.
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Designing Your Shipping
Container Home
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Drawings and Documentation
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Permitting Drawings
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Build Strategy
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The design and manufacturing of shipping container homes
is a viable alternative to conventional construction for many
reasons, but despite a strong showing of successful container
projects, building with shipping containers is still in it’s early
stages. From the design perspective, there are many design
entities with “Kit” shipping container home offerings. These
however, are very far from turnkey. Virtual none of the
“design entities” have shop/manufacturing capabilities. The
ones that do, have very small custom shops with limited
output which is highly customized and high in price. From
the manufacturing perspective, there are more and more
factories/companies building with containers. Typically, they
have a “stock” catalogue of very base shipping container home
designs to purchase turnkey. Some can provide customized
solutions (design to your specs), at higher cost points.
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Foundations
Building a house is no small feet. Even a small one. There are thousands of
materials, pieces, and tasks involved. Unless you are a builder or experienced
it’s intimidating. But, what containers as perfect modules allow you to do, is
simplify the entire process. Think of a typical 1,000 square foot house. Try
and work through in your head the total length of timber for the framing,
square footage of sheathing, number of floor joists required, and ceiling
rafters. Can’t do it. Not too many can. Now think about that 1,000 square
foot house made out of shipping containers. It’s 3 forty foot containers. By
reducing the house into 3 base component pieces (modules), it’s much easier
to understand, design, and build.
This is a critical phase where expectations are set, and budget ceilings
determined. The primary objective is to establish a conceptual design with
input from design professionals, potential contractors, modular suppliers, and
material/equipment suppliers. A comprehensive budget and schedule are also
developed so a true profile of scope, budget and risk can be understood and
assessed early on.
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Container Modifications
Shipping containers have monocoque bodies. The corrugation panels
(roof, sides, and back), floor, purlins, front doors, frame, and rails form an
integrated structural skin. They are strong and made to carry floor loads far
in excess of what is required for typical home construction. But, when you
modify them, cutting holes or penetrating members, they are weakened.
Regardless of what level of modification your shipping container home design
calls for, it is recommended to review with a structural engineer or architect.
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Set and Secure Containers to Foundation
and Each Other
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Install windows, exterior doors, flashing,
and any sky lights
Windows are set into openings that were measured and cut prior
to delivery of the shipping containers or roughed out on site.
All openings for windows and doors should be framed with a
steel section. Hollow rectangle sections work the best, but an L
section will work as well. Images below show openings or sliding
door systems in the end and sidewall panels of a container.
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Inspection and Sign-off
Staged inspections through the build with contractor and building official -
foundation, plumbing and electrical, architectural, and fire.
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Cargo-containers
There is growing interest in the use of shipping containers as the basis for habitable structures.
These “icons of globalization” are relatively inexpensive, structurally sound and in abundant supply.
Although, in raw form, containers are dark windowless boxes (which might place them at odds with
some of the tenets of modernist design...) they can be highly customizable modular elements of a
larger structure.
Even though container modifcation-examples are abundant, just 3 are chosen here to give an idea of
the range and variety. First the spacebox, designed by ‘De Vijf’ and ‘Holland Composites’.
Secondly the architecturefrm LO-TEK. These two examples show the manipulation of a sinlge
container-box and the different spatial and conceptual possibiliites.
Bluebase.MAS responds to issues raised by contemporary cities such as London, where our
increasingly transient lifestyles are resulting in more work related communities in which living clos-
er to the workplace and being able to move quickly a predominant factor in our choice of the home.
This shift in emphasis will fundamentally change the way we view our cities.
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standard container
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high-cube containers hard-top containers
The walls of hard-top containers are generally made of corrugated
steel. The foor is made of wood.
Lashing rings, to which the cargo may be secured, are installed in the
upper and lower side rails, the corner posts and the middle of the side
walls. The lashing rings on the side rails and corner posts may take
loads of up to 2000 kg. The lashing rings in the middle of the side walls
may take loads of up to 500 kg, provided that the roof is closed.
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standard container
Flatracks consist of a foor structure with a high loading
capacity composed
of a steel frame and a softwood foor and two end walls,
which may either be fxed or collapsible. The end walls
are stable enough to allow cargo securing means to be
attached and several fatracks to be stacked on top of one
an- other. Flatracks are available in 20’ and 40’ sizes.
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platforms
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project examples
LOT-EK MDU
LOT-EK is the New York based studio of Ada Tolla and Giuseppe
Lignano. LOT-EK’s Mobile Dwelling Unit (MDU) began as an
experimental design project in 1999. A constructed version
features in a current traveling exhibition LOT-EK: Mobile
Dwelling Unit which was organized by the University Art
Museum at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in
conjunction with the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
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BLUEBASE
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Key features:
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container art
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Bernardes Jacobsen
Architects: Bernardes Jacobsen Architecture
Location: Parque Villa-Lobos, São Paulo, Brazil
Partners in Charge: Thiago Bernardes and Paulo Jacobsen
Collaborators: Bernardo Jacobsen, Edgar Murata, Daniel Vannucchi and Rafael
Oliveira
Design year: 2008
Setting up: 2008
Photographs: Leonardo Finotti
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Maziar Behrooz
Architecture
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Benjamin
Garcia Saxe
Architecture
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Yasutaka Yoshimura
Architects
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Ex-Container Project
Yasutaka Yoshimura
Architects
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AnL studio
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LOT-EK
Young Woo &
Associates
The Hudson River Park Trust has recently
announced the winning design for New
York City’s Pier 57, a long floating pier built
on concrete caissons in 1952. The pier,
located in Chelsea at West 15th Street
and West Street on the western edge of
the Meat Packing District, is part of the
Hudson River Park development. New York
firm Lot-EK with developer Young Woo &
Associates are set to design a rooftop park
crowning a small shopping center of local
artisan stores built with recycled shipping
containers. The center will also include a
contemporary culture center with spaces
for exhibitions, galleries, auctions and
entertainment.
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The pier’s basic structure will be preserved, with layers of containers
holding a mix of studio, retail and community spaces. Many of the
small spaces will be rented to local artisans as a way to bring in revenue
and give the pier street-credibility and community ties. The proposal’s
emphasis on creating a niche for local artists and fusing an innovative
mix of uses offers an attractive solution for the site.
“The community working group liked the fact that the proposal generated
fewer vehicular trips,” explained President of the Board Connie Fishman.
Others found the proposal attractive due to its estimated $191 million
cost, as oppose to the other proposals that were estimated at over $330
million.
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Yet, before being selected, LOT-
EK had to prove to the jury that
the shipping-container design
would satisfy building codes
and also create a high-quality
experience. Although the jury
was apprehensive about the
containers, upon seeing LOT-
EK’s earlier container projects
for Puma City, the jury was
convinced the project was
feasible.
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Platoon
+ Graft
Architects
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Architecture+Interior Designers, AnL Studio(Keehyun Ahn & Minsoo Lee) have designed a public observatory
deck, called Oceanscope, in Incheon, Korea made of recycled materials, including old shipping containers.
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Hut at the Evergreen’s Brick Works
Levitt Goodman Architects
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To greet visitors in the months before its official
opening later this year, Evergreen Brick Works
commissioned a temporary Welcome Hut for
the 12-acre community environmental centre.
Designed by Levitt Goodman Architects, this
96 sqf hut is provides an immediate node for
visitors and to support the Evergreen’s mission to
showcase for green design and environmentally
sustainable initiatives.
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Elevated and painted Evergreen’s
signature eye-popping green, the
container commands attention
while also providing barrier-free
access and preventing flooding
(the Brickworks is in a floodplain).
Barn-like doors at either end of the
container open it up to the elements
and invite entry with a gesture like
open arms. A bumped-out steel
frame window gives the container
a new dimension and transforms
it into architecture. Adding to the
hut’s purpose, a scupper on the roof
funnels rainwater into an adjacent
rain barrel.
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