Google – The New Creator of Container Architects

Building a container residence can be nice DIY project, especially for those who take building as a hobby or a way to relax. Still, one needs to keep in mind that building container houses is a long procedure and requires extremely professional attitude. Due to many challenges, container house projects might escalate into failures. Thereby it is a worthy option to get a professional manufacturer to build it for you. There used to be a huge challenge in that option as well.

In order to manufacture container houses, the provider need the houses’ drawings. Building a house without blueprints is impossible. The manufacturers are also unable to determine the price without really specific details about one’s dream house. Most of us lack the architectural skills for that. Luckily, today all you need is a sketch made with Google Sketchup software.

Try googling container houses designed with Google Sketchup and you’ll find many results. By sending your sketch to a provider, you’ll safe a lot of time in negotiating and explaining your vision. Sketchup is a tool for you to translate the idea of your dream house to an architectural language that the manufacturers understand.

The prices of container houses can vary a lot. The prices are dependent of the number of floors, the amount of plumbing and electricity installations to name but a few. Use your sketches to inquire the prices. That’s how manufacturers can help you.

Container houses are advantageous related to conventional buildings in the sense that they can be built elsewhere than their final destination. For instance Shanghai Metal Corporation custom-manufactures numerous container houses every year and ships them worldwide. You can submit your inquiries and sketches in our Facebook page by sending a message. Check also our other social media platforms for future updates. See our container house service description here.

    

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Eric Wichman’s blog, Victor Fernandez, Tin Can Cabin, Mister Swift, Land8, Google Sketchup

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Container Houses – Hobbits in the Mordor of Architecture

Why do people want to build their homes out of shipping containers? Because of the benefits one can gain from containers and the promises related to successful shipping container architecture. Container houses indeed have many benefits that are superior compared to more conventional construction material. Still, there are numerous examples of how container house projects fail. Failure and challenges make some people question containers’ position as a reliable building material. Here we want to discuss some of that criticism.

Modularity, eco-friendliness and excellent availability are indeed some of the many benefits of shipping containers. The ports of many import driven countries including the US have hundreds of thousands of containers that are never shipped back to their original destination. Therefore it is logical and environmentally friendly to find ways to reuse these building blocks. However like any building material, containers also need to be processed.

Shipping containers should not be used in the condition that they are when first found in the docks. They have taken hits and transported goods with unknown origin. They might have shipped contaminants and they floors might be in bad condition. Refurbishing  the containers thoroughly is as important as with any construction material.

 

Because of the numerous operations including flooring, plumbing, drywall etc., container house projects might become as expensive as ordinary building projects. Thereby it is an recommended option to buy prefabricated container homes from a reliable provider. For instance Shanghai Metal Corporation manufactures and ships numerous prefabricated homes each year to many countries.

Sometimes container homes get excessive critics. Some people say container homes are not suitable for areas that are either really cold or really hot. This is not true. There is even a huge inhabitable container house complex  in Antarctica!  In hot conditions the container houses can be built to direct the flow of air inside creating a natural ventilation and thus saving costs. Such examples include the container ship terminal in Seville and this container house created by Chinese university students.

Some people say container houses are not bullet proof. It’s true that the light steel walls won’t stop a .38 Magnum but it will stop dynamite. That’s something, say, a wood house can’t do. Moreover container houses are hurricane and earthquake resistant. Isn’t that more important?

The thing is that the shipping container architecture industry is really young and under development. In his book, Why A Students Work for C Students And Why C Students Work for the Government, a successful entrepreneur and author Robert Kiyosaki mentions that the construction industry is the slowest industry in adapting new concepts. He says that the time gap between when a new idea is proposed and its adoption is 60 years in the construction industry.

People have built wood houses for ages, and learned from their mistakes. That’s why wood houses don’t have that much criticism anymore. The container house patent was filed in 1987. Therefore the expected time for flawless container architecture should be around the year 2047. Container housing needs just more time to develop – from hobbits to heroes. Luckily, the signs refer to faster development than 60 years.

As in any construction industry it is important to do the right things. It is also important to do the things right. That’s what Shanghai Metal Corporation does by specializing in building container houses according to customers’ specification. A sketch of your dream house drawn with Google’s Sketch Up is what we need hear to realize your dreams. You may contact us first by this form. See our service description through this link. Check also our social media sites for future updates.

    

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and more reading: Wikipedia, Survivopedia, Homedit, Apartment Therapy, Container Alliance, Arch Daily, Jets on Green, Tin Can Cabin, Baidu Image

Container Houses – Affordable Homes And A Lot More

As we all know, building a home out of shipping containers is cheaper and faster than conventionally built homes with same dimensions. Buying a prefabricated container home makes it even easier for average consumer since the majority of the construction is made off-site. Container homes are definitely becoming the mainstream of affordable housing, but since almost anything can be built out of these steel Lego blocks, why should one settle only for getting a living space?

The simplest container living space can of course be done by using a one single container. There are numerous examples of these container micro homes that are also presented in our articles. People wanting to build larger homes use to spend more money by hiring an architect agency to make them do the drawings for a container house manufacturer. Today thanks to Google, we can avoid those service costs by using Google’s Sketch Up program to make them ourselves. That money can be spent perhaps for a container garage, sauna or even a swimming pool.

Container swimming pool could be a nice DIY project. Stefan Beese, An experimental architect set us an example by turning his New Orlean’s backyard into a luxurious swimming zone. He used a 30 cubic shipping container, added some pumps, filters, linings and did all the necessary operations. He only used about $5,000 to $7,000 to do that. You can read his whole story through this link.

Saunas are a necessities in some countries. For example in Nordic countries a saunaless house will most likely not get sold. For now the container sauna market is not that large and there are only a few suppliers of prefabricated container sauna manufacturers. One of them is Canadian Castor whose 8 ft sauna containers have a really high-end price tag of $ 41,000.

Luckily shipping container houses are modular and flexible in every way. They can be shipped and built in relatively short time frames. They can also be easily adjoined to existing buildings. Therefore for consumers it could be a reasonable option to buy a custom manufactured container house and save pools, saunas etc. later as DIY projects.

In Shanghai Metal Corporation we custom-manufacture container houses according to customers’ requirements. We also offer various indoor kits that you can see on our web page. We also sell various kinds of shipping containers worldwide. If you have questions related product categories, you can send your questions through this form. We are also active on these social media platforms. Follow us to get future updates.

    

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Gizmag, Nola, my-container.co.uk, Inhabitat, Viralnova