apocalypse – Shanghai Metal Corporation

Due to their widely applicable physical features, shipping containers have become a good alternative for affordable housing, mobile retail and building hotels just to name but a few. Shipping containers can also be used as protective shelters for natural disasters or terrorist attacks.

There are a lot of options for choosing appropriate material for building a safe bunker. Even though shipping container is not possibly the best alternative, due to its wide availability and cheap price, for average consumers it is perhaps the only option. A used shipping container can be purchased with approximately US$ 2000. The United States use over a million shipping containers annually to import products from abroad but because it is expensive to ship them back, most of them stay in the US. According to some estimates there are over 700,000 used shipping containers laying in US ports waiting for new use.

Even though containers’ walls are designed to resist rough weather even in extreme conditions, most people like to bury their container bases in order to make it invisible. Still, one needs to take into consideration that the containers’ steel roofs are not made to last heavy loads. Containers are designed to lie on their four strong corners. The four corners also enable stacking various layers of containers. So therefore, after digging a hole for the container one should design a frame that supports adding a gabion basket on the container. The gabion basket filled with rocks will protect the container. See original articles for more detail.

Where the containers’ exterior surrounding has some limitations, the interior design is basically free for users’ own imagination. Today some containers come with a electric generator and bathroom solutions making the containers livable apartments.

Shanghai Metal Corporation has a long experience in offering high quality containers for shipping and housing. For more details of our containers and container houses, please see our website. Please also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. You can also download our mobile application by scanning the QR code below.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Ttora.com, Treehugger.com, Foreign Policy Research Institute, Sourceable.net, Prepper-recources.com, Containerauction.com, Emyplanb.wordpress.com, followingfuji1.blogspot.com, Luxtica.com,

Think about it –threats like economic collapse, global warming, terrorism, nuclear war, and dwindling energy supplies aren’t fallacies. So called ‘Preppers’ are already one step ahead hoarding supplies and making shelters. It’s estimated there are three million Preppers in the U.S. alone, and the number is rising.

In Houston Texas ‘the walking dead escape’ based on the TV show helps participants hone survival skills. Although it seems silly, getting ready for the zombie apocalypse might just save your life—in the event of a hurricane, terrorist attack or other disaster.

Floating homes could be a solution. There are two types; permanently floating homes and homes that float only when flood waters swell, but sit on the ground during the dry season. Considering same for threatened shorelines, this is one way to plan for the future. These are built on a steel platform structure with steel pontoons. Or, a steel frame that holds the flotation blocks is attached to the underside of the house. There are four ‘vertical guidance’ poles not far from the corners of the house. The tops of the poles are attached to the steel frame.

Here are a few ready-made designs – they’re mostly to solve flooding issues in their areas but serve the same purpose:

Portland, Oregon, Fennell Residence — Robert Harvey Oshatz Architects.
Pictures: Cameron Neilson , Oshatz

Holland. This is a two level home. The bedrooms and bathrooms are below sea level. Picture: Plus 31 Architects

Netherlands — ‘New Water‘ will be the world’s first floating apartment complex, The Citadel. They will use 25% less energy than a conventional building due to the use of water cooling techniques. Architect: Water Studio

Shanghai Metal manufactures value added carbon steel used to make the floating house frames. To find out more, please visit our website, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code.

You can also read more articles by our team at SMC:

Could You Abseil Down Big Ben?

Building Your Dream Kitchen

How A Tiny Anchor Can Hold A Whole Ship

Did You Know There Are 14 Kinds Of Spoon?

How To Make A Statement At Business Networking Events

How Do Telephones Actually Work?