This Solar-Powered House Produces 50% More Energy Than It Consumes!

A French architect Philippe Starck has developed a prefabricated wooden house that takes advantage of solar power and other sustainable power sources to produce energy.

The house is under construction and will be placed outside Paris for Starck’s personal use. It is produced together with one of Europe’s leading prefab manufacturers Riko. This house is also called a PATH house (Prefabricated Accessible Technological Homes) that is designed to consume a third of the energy of a traditional house.

The house has glazed with with rows of aluminum panels running in between. The energy-producing system is placed under the fluted parapet that lines the edge of the roof.

The PATH homes can have at maximum eight rooms in an area between 140 and 350 square meters. The house is priced around 2,500 and 4,500 euros per square meter. The delivery takes approximately 6 months. Assembling is usually done in 2 weeks.

Shanghai Metal Corporation is also a provider of customized prefabricated houses that are environmentally friendly and can be build with low costs. They can be empowered with our solar power system. Check our website for more details. Follow us also in our social media platforms for future updates.

    

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

via Dezeen

Container B&B Completes Your Dream Vacation in Spain!

If you’re planning a vacation in Majorca, this is the place where you want to lodge! Located 10 minutes from the capital Palma, there is a luxurious bed and breakfast facility that is made out of three shipping containers.

The “Fly House” B&B has basically everything that everybody wants from their holiday accommodation. It has a modern open planned living area with full kitchen,  living room and a rooftop bedroom.  The Fly House is also  equipped with high-speed Internet and cable TV.

This holiday bungalow also has an outdoor deck with a swimming pool and a BBQ dining area. The outdoor facility has also a private Japanese garden and a hammock for relaxation.

Even though its space is very limited, the room feels really spacious. Its spiral staircase saves a lot of space. Also its shelves and sofa can can be closed and opened with a push of a button for extra space.

This container complex was prefabricated off-site and plunked with the least amount of energy, waste and cost. Thanks to shipping containers, this facility can be easily expanded and transferred to a different location. Its solar panels enable energy efficient and low-cost electricity usage. Floor-to-ceiling windows illuminate the room with natural light. Rainwater is harvested by gutters and reused for outdoor plants.

The Fly House designer company Espai Fly would like to see their container housing business expanding from hotels to also cafes, retail outlets and even private homes.

 

Shipping containers seem to be the superior material for creating affordable real-estate that is both luxurious and affordable. For instance this private bungalow costs only about 110 US dollars a day. You can check the current prices and book from here.

While container architecture is going mainstream, Shanghai Metal Corporation continues in fulfilling shipping container orders from around the globe. If you wish to order this superior material, please send us an inquiry. You may also visit our container house page. Follow us also in these social media platforms.

    

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Sources: Architizer, designboom, Espai Fly

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An Antarctic Prefab Shows the True Potential of Shipping Containers

India’s National Center for Antarctic and Ocean Research is situated in northeast Antarctica. The Bharati Indian Polar Station is built on an 27,000 square feet area out of 134 shipping containers. The research center’s residential quarters shows almost everything that can be built out of shipping containers including an hotel of 24 single and double bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, library, fitness room, offices, a lounge and an operational theater.

There are at least two reasons why the research complex was built by using shipping containers. First, according to the Antarctic Treaty System, all the construction in the Antarctica should not leave any trace to the environment. Shipping containers make it possible to dissassemble and remove the building without causing any environmental impact.

Second, due to shipping containers’ physical properties and their durability, they are an excellent building material for extreme weather conditions. Shipping containers are designed to be shipped even in a rough weather in the world’s seas. Therefore they can even handle the wind gusts of 200 mph and the temperatures of -40 C of the Antarctica.

The shipping container complex was prefabricated in Germany and shipped to Antwerp and Cape Town. In Antarctica the research center was able to be assembled quickly. The facade of the center was designed to forestall the buildups of snow drifts.

Thanks to the German company Bof Architekten, the center can accommodate 47 researchers during summers and 24 during winters. The energy of the center is provided by a Combined Heat and Power Unit (CHP) which is powered by stockpiles of kerosene. There are actually a total of three CHP units on site, so as to ensure that an untimely mechanical failure does not leave the residents in dire straits.

Shipping containers and shipping container architecture are one of Shanghai Metal Corporation‘s largest businesses. Our containers are built to last according to international standards. In order to learn more about our products and services, please visit our websites on containers and container projects. Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Try also scanning our QR code with your smart phone, tablet or phablet.

 

#BuildingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Gizmag, Bof Architekten, Inhabitat

Galactic Prefab Offers Vacations in Space

Space tourism is an extreme form of travelling that has been experienced by only a few people. Due to the high prices of such service providers as Richard Branson‘s Virgin Galactic, only the wealthiest can spend a vacation in space. A Russian space pod design company Orbital Technologies is trying to take space tourism more mainstream.

An article on Wikipedia has gathered a list of all of the world’s eight space tourists. The lists also showed that in order to get to space, those people spent US 20 to 40 million. Orbital Technologies’ service is much more cheaper.

A Soyuz rocket will take you to a two day voyage in space with about $US 826,000. Five nights weight in $US 165,000. With that price passengers can stay in a comfortable solar-powered Commercial Space Station (CSS) orbiting the Earth within a 217 mile radius. The passengers can view the cosmos through portholes.

The price includes luxury gourmet meals that are prepared on Earth. Unfortunately alcohol is not allowed in the space flight. The passengers can use an air-flush toilet and take shower in a fully sealed water cubicle. They sleep vertically or horizontally in zippered sleeping bags that prevent them flying around in zero gravity.

The galactic prefab is also used as pod for scientific research during off-seasons. It is also used as an emergency stations for space crafts that get into trouble in space.

One interesting fact about space tourism is that it slows down aging but just a little bit. According to a theory of time dilation, say, a six month trip to space slows down aging by 0.007 seconds. Thereby arithmetically speaking, a five day voyage in a space hub would slow down aging by 0.002 seconds.

Space pod is a futuristic application of prefabricated building. For many years people have built prefab homes, hotels and hospitals etc. Shanghai Metal Corporation is also a provider of prefabricated building projects. To learn more about our projects, please visit our website. Please also look at our Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram profiles. If you liked this blog, please feel free to share it.

 

#BuildingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Inhabitat, Designboom, How Stuff Works?, Wikipedia, Tuvie.com

The Cliff House Defines the New Extreme of Prefab Architecture

An Australian Company Modscape has come up with a design of a five story building clinging to the side of a cliff in southwest Victoria Australia. The Cliff House resembles the house of the Marvel comics character, the Ironman Tony Stark.

The real life Ironman house is equipped with a carport, a living room, kitchen, an open-air spa, BBQ room, three bedrooms with one having an en suit bathroom and a larger bathroom. The only entrance of the cliff house is at the top floor from where an elevator or stairs take the residents to every prefabricated level.

 At the lowest floor, the home opens up to another outdoor space, which seems to float above the water. Patio furniture, an outdoor kitchen and a jacuzzi tub extend the luxurious feeling of being above the ocean. The minimized amount of furniture emphasizes the connection to the ocean and the horizon.

The Cliff House’s design is inspired by how barnacles cling to the hull of a ship. Like barnacles, the house is anchored to a cliff by steel pins. The house works as a natural extension to the cliff bringing an absolute connection with the beautiful ocean.

Perhaps some people would hesitate about coastal erosion and how it affects the house’s steel fasteners. Fortunately, the former president of the Royal Institute of British Architects Maxwell Hutchinson has said in BBC’s interview that there is no reason why the design should not be structurally sound. Cantilever beams drilled into the rock could support the building just as crampons support a climber. Hutchinson also mentions that the building costs might become high because the people in the industry tend to dislike everything unusual.(source)

Shanghai Metal Corporation is also an experienced builder of prefabricated homes. We offer modular houses, hotels, villas and offices. Please visit our website for more information. Please also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram. Try also our mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Business Insider, BBC, Gizmag, Comicvine, Inhabitat