Home Is Where the Cargo Was
Leading architects are transforming shipping containers into industrial-chic dwellings that are cost-efficient, rapidly built, and strong
How many people can say the previous occupiers of their home were 20,000 toy dolls, 6,000 pairs of sneakers, or 500 computer monitors? Or that their house had been to China and back? Aluminum or steel shipping containers -- used by the global freight business since the 1930s to transport goods -- have been adapted by leading architects and designers (such as Japan's Shigeru Ban) in concept or museum projects for some years. Now architects are starting to use the ubiquitous rectangular shipping units to build elegant, relatively inexpensive, quickly constructed, and surprisingly sturdy homes.
Check out real-life examples of what Seattle architectural firm HyBrid calls "cargotecture," and how the reuse of these containers might be changing the residential landscape in years to come.
By Reena Jana