Tag Archives: cargotecture

This family cabin built from eight shipping containers took nearly three years to construct

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Container House is a modular family residence near Stockholm, Sweden that’s built from eight shipping containers.

Shipping containers give new meaning to modular home design. Chosen for its structural integrity and prefabricated build, the shipping container is a sustainable and long-lasting choice for home builders. Måns Tham, architect and founder of Måns Tham Arkitektkontor, recently finished work on a multi-year, shipping container project that’s home to a family of five. Completed with eight 20′ and 40′ disused high-cube shipping containers, the residence gives rise to a geometric monolith posed on a steep lot near a lake outside Stockholm. Simply calling it Container House, Tham mentions, “It’s as if a flying Tetris block landed on steep granite rocks.”

Designer: Måns Tham Arkitektkontor

Inspired by their interest in customized American cars, Tham’s clients felt a connection to the DIY nature of turning shipping containers into modular homes. In addition to the natural connection they felt to shipping container architecture, the couple chose to build with shipping containers for their sustainable appeal, flexibility, and prefabricated structural integrity. Generally speaking, all of this allows architects to build shipping container homes quickly, but that’s not always the case. For Container House, it took just about three years to reach completion. Built on a steep cliffside, Container House’s chosen location brought some challenges with it.

The jagged terrain gives way to an unforgiving canyon, where rainwater collects before flowing toward the lake. Working with such wild terrain becomes difficult when your main structural elements are rigid shipping containers that have predefined parameters. Joining shipping containers together generally requires some tradeoff of their structural integrity. When a shipping container’s wall is removed to merge with another shipping container and form a larger living area, some of the structure’s integrated support is also removed.

Tham found stability and efficiency in a layout that props three shipping containers on the ground level, where an outdoor entryway leads to the residence’s den that flows into a guest room, where guests can enjoy a utility room, laundry, and full bath. Just above the ground level, four additional shipping containers create space for an open-plan living area that includes a kitchen, living area, and dining room.

On the same level, an outdoor terrace is delineated by an open-air steel frame that cradles a catwalk to bring residents to the forest’s edge. On the largest floor of the residence, a bathroom, main bedroom, and three smaller bedrooms can be also found. Posed on top of it all, a single shipping container functions as a lookout level for residents to bask in the views of the rugged cliffside and nearby lake.

The post This family cabin built from eight shipping containers took nearly three years to construct first appeared on Yanko Design.

This tiny home composed of two shipping containers is designed for off-grid living

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The Mansfield Container House is an L-shaped tiny home composed of two disused shipping containers that merge together to form a tiny, off-grid cabin.

Shipping container homes have redefined modern architecture. Designers and architects across the globe have turned to disused shipping containers to convert into insulated, tiny homes. Cost-effective, eco-friendly, and modular by design, shipping containers provide the ideal template for designers and architects to have at it and let their creativity fly.

Designer: Robbie Walker

In the foothills of Australia’s Victorian Alps, Melbourne-based architect Robbie Walker merged two disused shipping containers together to form a tiny, off-grid cabin for family holidays and solo rendezvous.

Named Mansfield Container House after the town where it resides, Walker’s tiny home is comprised of two 20-foot shipping containers that amount to 30-square-feet in total. Coated with heavy-duty paint, Walker hoped to maintain the industrial personality of shipping containers on the outside. Inside, natural, polished plywood clads the interior walls to help brighten the exterior’s heavy-duty look.

Forming a right angle, the two shipping containers are connected by an external, hydraulics deck that folds down from one of the two shipping containers. Just in front of the fold-down deck, residents and guests can make use of the outdoor space with an expansive fireplace that can be used year-round.

Stationed behind the fold-down deck, the tiny home’s residents enjoy enough room for a living room, bathroom, and kitchen, which is equipped with a fold-out table as well as a fold-out guest bed.

In the other container, the main bedroom can be found, where a fold-down double bed and triple bunk are located with self-inflating mattresses. To save space and avoid unnecessary crowding between the two containers, a bathroom and kitchen sink can also be accessed in the bedroom container.

Stocked with all of the necessities for off-grid living, the Mansfield Container House has the means for solar power as well as water treatment systems. Solar panels were placed on the roof to generate and store solar power, while water bladders were built into the roof to preserve 1,000 liters of rainwater. Then, an integrated steel screen produces some shade for the sunny days the tiny home’s residents want to lounge out on the deck.

Since the cabin is off-grid, it does come with its own catalog of operational duties, as Walker explains, “It’s similar to the way a sailor must operate a yacht—you need to open a window to catch a breeze, and close down at the right time to avoid the bugs. But that’s part of the fun. It brings you closer to the elements and nature in this beautiful part of the world.”

The tiny home is a familiar sight on the farm, where several shipping containers plot the land. 

Inside, natural, polished plywood lines the walls for a warm contrast to the home’s industrial exterior.

The post This tiny home composed of two shipping containers is designed for off-grid living first appeared on Yanko Design.

This mobile tiny home comprised of two disused shipping containers features a spacious terrace!

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The Portable Cabin from Wiercinski Studio is a mobile tiny home comprised of two disused shipping containers.

When it comes to transforming shipping containers into homes, you get the best of both worlds. On one hand, you have yourself a homey, tiny cabin that can cozy into any small corner of the world like it’s been there all along. On the other hand, most architects accommodate a mobile lifestyle when designing shipping container homes, outfitting the piece of cargotecture with wheels and a trailer.

Adding their own shipping container turned tiny-home-on-wheels to the mix, Adam Wiercinski of Polish architecture group, Wiercinski Studio designed Portable Cabin.

Designed as a prefabricated tiny home comprised of two disused freight containers, Portable Cabin is a 55m2 mobile home and office located in Poznan, Poland. Situated above a small creek, Wiercinski Studio’s Portable Cabin was prefabricated offsite before landing in the lush gardens of Poznan’s Szelagowski Park.

There, Wiercinski designed the interior of Portable Cabin within just one day. From the outside, Portable Cabin boasts its factory-made profile, with discreet army green facades made from trapezoidal sheet metal. Trading camouflage green for bright, sun-soaked interiors, the living spaces of Portable Cabin are framed by birch plywood panels.

Brightening the home even further, two sets of floor-to-ceiling windows bookend both sides of the Portable Cabin. Cradled beneath tree canopies and besides growing ferns, a spacious exterior deck merges with one set of french doors and the main bedroom’s floor-to-ceiling window.

The exterior deck is accessible either through the living room’s french doors or the external steel staircase that’s bordered by a bowed balustrade. In addition to the living room and main bedroom, the tiny home’s residents enjoy a kitchenette, bathroom, and small workspace.

Designer: Wiercinski Studio

The post This mobile tiny home comprised of two disused shipping containers features a spacious terrace! first appeared on Yanko Design.

Six incredible buildings made from shipping containers

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By Cat DiStasio Cargotecture is a growing trend in modern architecture that has more to do with repurposing than it does with starting from scratch -- and yet the results are no less spectacular than traditional construction projects. Recycled shipp...