Shipping Containers make excellent building blocks.A recent trend has many entrepreneurs and large corporations utilizing shipping containers for restaurant locations.From Chick-fil-a to Starbucks the environmental and structural advantage of using shipping containers is huge.I personally hope to see more people utilize this idea. Enjoy the video we made, along with the individual pictures below!
A prototype hybrid house, also known as the Tim Palen Studio at Shadow Mountain is the first repurposed container home permitted and built in the Mojave Desert. Based on the fuel-efficient Prius automobile engineering concept, the residence combines the energy and production efficiencies of diverse pre-engineered building and energy systems working together seamlessly to produce a smooth-running hybrid green machine for living.The residence is a prototype of 2nd generation pre-fab design and a kit-like housing product developed by ecotechbuild, the design-build subsidiary of ecotechdesign. It is constructed from 5-20′ long recycled cargo containers that were fabricated and finished in Los Angeles and then shipped to the site where they were erected and stacked 2 high in 15 minutes each. All site work, including foundations and utility placement was constructed at the remote desert site during container fabrication in Los Angeles.
I found this awesome Bob Villa video where he interviews David Cross from TAW (Tampa Armature Works).They have an in depth conversation about shipping container construction. The conversation starts off by discussing the 700,000 abandoned shipping containers in United States ports. These containers are left behind due to the trade imbalance.Why not use the abandoned shipping containers as building blocks for construction?They do. He calls these structures Intermodal Steel Building Units (ISBU). They not only build homes out of these shipping containers but other structures with the use of I-beams and plasma torches to cut out sections of the container.The use of the I-Beams allow the engineer a lot of flexibility in what they choose to build with these sturdy boxes.He shows Bob something he calls the "Worlds Largest Toolbox,"