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

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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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Prefab Construction Enables Skateboarding on Water!

The great thing about prefab architecture is that it can be built somewhere and placed elsewhere. Actually prefabricated construction can be placed anywhere, say, in space, underwater or on water. One cool instance of floating prefab is a skate ramp on Lake Tahoe.

This 7,000 lb was built in four days to promote Visit California’s Dream365 campaign. Over 300 man hours were needed to get the ramp on water. After finishing the project, the ramp was first tested by pro skateboarder Bob Burnquist.

The floating structure consists of an 8 ft (2.4 m) tall wooden bank ramp and a smaller 5 ft (1.5 m) secondary ramp. Both wooden ramps rest on top of a 36 ft (11 m) long floating platform, with the ramps stained with different colors for a creative effect and polished to optimize skating speed.

Floating skate ramps have also been built elsewhere. For example Finnish snowboarders Eero Aattala and Roope Tonteri realised the idea by installing a skate ramp on a lake in Finland. The ramp was also used for swimming and enjoying the Finnish Mid-Summer Festival.

Skateboarding and prefabricated construction seem to be a good match. This is also shown by a nonprofit company Skateistan that installed prefabricated shipping container skate parks in Afghanistan to enhance local physical education. You can read more about it from here.

We in Shanghai Metal Corporation have a wide experience in executing high-quality prefabricated building projects. If you are designing your own, please ask for our consultation by sending an inquiry. Please look at our website too see our former projects. Also follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Visit California, Jerry Blohm, Bob Burnquist, Gizmodo, Red Bull

Container Garages – The New Homes of Harleys

For many companies, such as Apple, HP and Mattel, their first offices were garages. Today the new low-cost solution for office facilities is using shipping containers. Actually shipping containers narrow the gap between offices and garages even closer as people are really starting to use containers as garages.

Shipping container construction in general is a trend for sustainable and environmentally friendly architecture. If you consider the many advantages that shipping containers posses, it is not impossible to imagine why so many people wish to build their homes, summer houses or swimming pools using shipping containers.

Shipping containers are in many ways an ideal building material. They are designed to resist harsh environments and therefore they can offer shelter even for natural disasters. They are also designed to be modular what makes it easy to use additional construction material to complete the buildings.

Shipping container construction is said to have lower labor costs compared to traditional construction. This can be explained by their simple steel structure that only requires welding and cutting procedures to be modified. Building a garage for your Harley-Davidson, BMW or Mercedes could not be more pleasant!

As prefabricated and container architecture are gaining global recognition and going mainstream, Shanghai Metal Corporation is proud to be positioned as a reliable partner and a provider of construction material. Our English speaking staff is highly-skilled and is more than happy to assist in any construction related questions. Just send us an inquiry or visit our webpage. Please also remember to follow us on our social media platforms.

    

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Wikipedia, HD History & News, Home in a Box, Totaho.com, Youtube, Nealev in Blogspot