Posted on 11/24/2012 6:28:34 PM PST by haffast
The first U.S. multi-family condo built of used shipping containers is slated to break ground in Detroit early next year.
Strong, durable and portable, shipping containers stack easily and link together like Legos. About 25 million of these 20-by-40 feet multicolored boxes move through U.S. container ports a year, hauling children's toys, flat-screen TVs, computers, car parts, sneakers and sweaters.
But so much travel takes its toll, and eventually the containers wear out and are retired. That's when architects and designers, especially those with a "green" bent, step in to turn these cast-off boxes into student housing in Amsterdam, artists' studios, emergency shelters, health clinics, office buildings.
snip
Exceptional Green Living on Rosa Parks, Detroit: Container to Condo
This 20-unit, four-story condo complex consisting of 93 stacked cargo containers - the first U.S. multi-family residence to be built from these discarded vessels - has been in the works for four years. Tabled when the national real estate market shattered, the project is now scheduled to break ground early next year in midtown Detroit. The units will come rigged with ductless heating and air systems, tankless water heaters and other energy-saving systems. "We're putting money into these energy efficiencies so that the tenant has reduced energy costs," says Leslie Horn, CEO of Three Squared, the project's developer. "And we can build in less than half the time."
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
it works for Odungo’s brother
Not even close to 20 feet wide
That looks exactly like one of the stages in Modern Warfare 3, the video game
THAT might be 20 feet wide!
We’ll have to wait for the satellite photographs to be sure.
Well, they’ll be harder to destruct.
Lease some land, put a container house on it, and when you are done, put Detroit in the rear view mirror and don't look back.
Aah, look of the future.
Not to mention the noise.
Is that “intermodal?”
i thought they were 10 by 20 or so, as they fit onto trailer frames for semis to haul. must have multiple sizes.
That’s got some really weird bumps and bulges. Sort of a hang down over the panty line.
I don’t see any advantage to these things
other than that they are stackable.
I remember quite well a shipping container living quarter area of town behind the home I lived in with 30gal plastic garbage cans filled with potable water and 5 gal "honey" buckets, both located inside so they would not freeze and both serviced by city trucks once or twice a week.
Bootleggers and drunks for the most part.
In fact I remember a show a few years back that discovered the price to convert a storage container was not cost efficient at all and ended up being 2 to 3 times the price per square foot of regular construction. There was also so some nasty problem with the paint they use to keep the shipping containers from rusting while traveling over seas. It caused cancer or something. This looks like more feel good hopey changey Solendra bologna.
the reason these steel boxes win the prize is simple: They are dirt cheap. Construction works out to $8/sq ft. Find something cheaper. You won’t.
The economy of scale was acheived on these a long time ago.
I’ll be an optimist here. Once installed, people’s sense of design will take over. The low cost leaves lots of room for expense on landscaping to break up their angular and ugly appearance. Give this time, I think this could be a winner in the struggle over low income housing. So long as they can fight the rust, too, maintenance costs should be very low for these metal boxes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.