When we think of shipping container homes, we usually think of square blocks with their original corrugated metal walls, but the range of residential uses for shipping container homes has really increased, and has been for a while. The shipping container home trend is becoming a significant part of architecture and design, for everything from sheds and storage buildings to offices, guest houses, cabins, tiny homes, large mansions, apartment complexes and a lot of others.
Recently we’ve been looking at shipping container buildings — especially residential — more because of the sometimes lower cost of building with them. When you buy shipping container bins used, its for a couple of thousand dollars, and there is a big variety: some are fully bins, some have doors, some have ribs instead of walls, some have roofs, and so if there’s supply appropriate, they can fill in big parts of a building’s material needs.
We also found a company that has been collecting shipping container builds and putting them together in a collection (a pdf book called “Shipping Container Homes”). They’re called Container Home. Here’s one of the houses they’ve collected from the Arizona Mountains. It’s a hybrid shipping container – traditional construction build using five type 1A HC containers. The name of the custom and the cost of the build weren’t disclosed for this one.
Shipping containers used:
2 x 45′ Type 1A HC
2 x 40′ Type 1A HC
1 x 20′ Type 1A HC
“The rectangular flat “shed roof” was designed for optimum water shed capture during the summer monsoons and winter snow melt and the outside walls feature flat steel cladding.
“The kitchen features a custom island with the butcher block cooktop and European styled cabinetry adding to the contemporary design of the home. The simple lines of the cabinetry add to the style of the home and leave the space clean looking and airy with plenty of room for storage.
“All ductwork has been installed in chases and insulated, and the duct returns and registers are in place. A Rheem five-ton HVAC heatpump was used.”
Check out the gallery of photos below (all images on our site are expandable, even the featured image at the top).
Find more from “Shipping Container Homes” and other companies we’ve indexed in our Home Designers and Builders Directory. You can search the company’s name and look builders near your area. And to see more shipping container buildings, click here.