As Earth Day 2007 approaches, evidence of the dramatic climate change facing Planet Earth (the same Earth for which said “Day” is named) continues to pile high. Reports of rising temperatures, powerful storms, agricultural crises and the like flood the media, liberal and neutral alike, while hard-working Americans should be watching highlights of baseball and the already-won, most “perfectest” war.
Depressing? Of course, but instead of conveying to you prognostications of humanity’s end, I’d like to highlight an ingenious idea I read about today – using shipping containers to build housing. WHAT?! Let Riddhi Trivedi-St. Clair of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch explain. “What started as an airplane conversation between the principals of two local companies has led to a plan that could put hundreds of thousands of unused metal cargo containers to use in housing developments. Bruce Russell and Steve Armstrong, both of St. Louis-based SG Blocks, mentioned the idea of recycling the 10,000-pound containers to Dan Rosenthal, a principal in the Lawrence Group Architects, also based in St. Louis, a little over a year ago .”
And you thought senior executives just sat around counting money and figuring out how to screw the little guy . . . for shame. “The containers are used to ship cargo nationwide and overseas and about 300,000 are sitting unused at the country’s ports, said Dave Cross, director of business development at SG Blocks. The concept grabbed him, Rosenthal said, and he began sketching designs for housing options. In the last year the two companies have started work on several projects that use the containers.”
300,000 of these containers are just sitting around unused, and that’s just in America. Can you imagine if this philosophy was used in developing nations to provide shelter for people in harsh climates? I’m not suggesting these containers be outfitted with stainless steel and granite but adapting them to provide protection from the elements alone would help thousands of people live more easily.
By happenstance, these shipping containers adapt incredibly well to housing. “They are 40 feet long, 9.5 feet high and 8 feet wide. That limits ceiling heights to about 8.5 feet, Rosenthal said. The width can be manipulated by joining two containers and removing the inside “walls” with a blow torch. but the length is restricted to 40 feet. But they are versatile in other ways. The roof is strong enough to support the extra weight of a green roof — which has vegetation growing on it — if the owner should want it. With a high-efficiency ceramic paint, the insulation capacity is equal to a conventional house, Rosenthal said.”
So what’s the biggest project that’s been imagined to date? A “230-unit, four-story, continuing care retirement building on the campus of Villa San Luis Rey, an 18th-century Spanish mission in California.”
What’s not to like? The world, and this country, have a shortage of quality housing. These containers are sitting unused. They are strong, adaptable, well-insulated and “green” to boot. More ideas like this are needed, especially from people who have the ability to make them a reality. Turning cargo containers into housing may sound like a crazy idea but it’s the crazy ideas that transform the world.
I am glad this is now being recognized as a viable housing alternative. I was laughed at, when I made this suggestion (for building offices) in Bombay using containers.
Better late than never.
[...] Vihar Sheth at green | rising is energized by issues pertaining to sustainability. Not sure if he advises against MBA or pursuig MBA while working . But he does make a case for using shipping containers for housing in his post “Reuse & Recycle: Turning Apples Into Oranges“. [...]
I love the idea of adaptive re-use but I don’t see rows of shipping containers showing up in my neighborhood anytime soon (I hope). Also, if you have every been in a shipping container you come to understand how hot a big steel box can become in the summer sun.
I think the point is to use the containers for the structure of housing units. I’m certain they would be insulated and conditioned, especially for housing in the U.S. Perhaps in the developing world would they only be used for shelter in the most basic sense.
At the risk of this being a shameless plug, we are in the article and purveyors of the system. Sheth has it correct in that we see at as the internal structure of the system, made from Value Cycled TM materials achieving stronger than code abilities, and fast, and in many designs such as multifamily an economical choice. In short Recycling which is great takes something and then re-uses it for more or less a similar purpose. In The Value Cycling side we try to look at can we create a Higher and better use with less inputs on the energy side. So with containers, it takes about 8000kwh to recycle its 8000lbs of steel content into new steel beams and columns. In Value Cycling we take that same steel container and for about 400kwh we (less than 5%) turn it into a higher and better use such as our ISBU SG Block.
David
it’s a brilliant concept and great for the environment. About time people started accepting this form of building instead of thinking “who wants to live in a metal box?”, while they are living in a far less secure and safe wooden box. Might be worth pushing the idea in Tornado Alley instead of rebuilding all those flattened cheap wooden trailers annually. An Asian company, http://www.isopod.cn has been manufacturing some really brilliant stuff for about 6 years. Have a look at their website, although it’s mostly for work camps and disaster relief.
nicholas