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The Many Architectural Applications of Shipping Containers vol.3

Shipping containers are a convenient construction material for building affordable real estate for personal housing, business facilities or leisure activities. They can also be used in public transportation industry. At least by building ship terminals and train stations.

A dutch architects company NL Architects has designed a new shipping container railway station that makes passengers’ waiting experience more comfortable.

They wanted a cheap and light material that would be easy to put together and take apart. Therefore they used shipping containers to build this structure that consists four containers. Three of them work as a roof above glazed waiting room. One container is an open-bottom container creating more space while two other horizontally installed closed containers build storage. The fourth container has been flipped upwards to create a clock tower. The tower has a bathroom with natural light coming from the glazed ceiling window.

Shipping containers can be modified easily with cutting or welding. Thereby they are also easy to be retrofitted into their surroundings. Most of the containers are also equipped with generators.

Another new application for shipping containers was invented by the design companies Hombre de Piedra and buró4 who built a cruise terminal out of shipping containers in the port of Seville in 2013.

They only needed 45 days in total to finish the project. Installing 23 shipping containers in a 500 square meter area took only two weeks. Therefore the installation costs were not high just like the terminal’s energy production costs. The terminal is naturally ventilated and it can be easily moved if necessary. The buildings’ bioclimatic solutions also ensure that it does not get hot in the terminal during Seville’s hot summers.

Shanghai Metal Corporation sells standardized shipping containers internationally. We also make prefabricated shipping container housing and office solutions. Please visit our website on containers and container buildings for detailed descriptions. Follow us also on these social media platforms.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Sources: See our blogs on the train station and cruise terminal.

Continue to chapter 4

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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

Book on AirBnB

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Cruise Ships Resting in Container Haven

A new application for shipping containers was invented as the design companies Hombre de Piedra and buró4 built a cruise terminal out of shipping containers in the port of Seville in 2013. The container terminal is to let the passengers of the city’s river cruises to get on and off the ships.

What’s more, the cruise terminal is designed to fit in the surrounding environment giving this piece of cargotecture a natural touch. A dialogue with the urban environment was an important objective for the project and thereby shipping containers were an obvious choice for the building material.

The city of Seville wanted a terminal that was able to handle ships with varying number of passengers sailing on the river Guadalquivir. Thanks to the use of shipping containers, the cruise terminal is also extendable allowing the agile installation of new docking pods.

In prefabricated architecture the present trends is to use shipping containers because they offer various benefits with only limited costs. Container architecture, i.e., cargotecture is a big part of today’s sustainable architecture industry. There will be more homes, hotels ect. that will be built on this super building material. Like the cruise terminal in Seville, other cargotectural innovations will emerge.

Shanghai Metal Corporation welcomes businesses all over the world to purchase our internationally standardized shipping containers. Our English speaking staff in Shanghai will guide you and consult you in finding the best products for your needs. Just send us an inquiry and we will get back to you. You can also take a look at our website for further details. Please also check our social media sites Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin.

Tuomas P. // SMC Editor

Pictures and original articles: Inhabitat, Hombre de Piedra, Buro4

Fabbing 3D Printed Houses Using Soybean: The Revolution in Housing Industry

Imagine a time when we all could afford a house. Imagine a time when all houses no differently are “green” with zero environment impact. Each “green” house could be customized according to users’ needs and desires, but yet has the same features of traditional cement-and-brick houses to accommodate plumbing system, electrical wiring and insulation. These “green” housing structures are made of biodegradable soybean based material, which can be torn down and 100% recycled.

This future may be here sooner than we all could have imagined. Sofoklis Giannakoupoulous, a researcher at Barcelona’s IaaC (the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia) has been developing a building structure that is stronger than reinforced concrete. He uses a soybean-based brownish-looking powder that could be extruded – or 3D printed – that are more solid than concrete.

Although it may sound absurd others companies have been experimented their own biodegradable mix materials to print chunks of buildings. Most notably companies such as Dus Architects and Ultimaker in the Netherlands have only printed so far a 3m-high, 180-kg sample corner of the future canal house using hotmelt, a bio-plastic mix that’s about 75% plant oil.

Watch here http://vimeo.com/87843940 the 3D Print Canal House – the world’s first movable 3D-printer pavillion. They plan to construct skycrapers by stacking and connecting the chunks together like LEGO bricks, forming multi-story complexes.

The technologies offered by the new 3D-housing-printing could revolutionize the way we make our cities. With 3D-printing we challenge the conventional building industry, one of the most polluting and environment harmful; there is no waste, construction costs are reduced, industrial waste from demolished buildings can be recycled and turned into new building materials and the new biodegradable materials are less expensive than concrete.

The future scenario of the 3D printing is yet to be seen but its game-changing potential is already provoking much interest in the public; over 2,000 people have come to visit the site, including the US president, Barack Obama.

Shanghai Metal Corporation takes pride in the manufacturing and trading of metal products used in manufacturing 3D printer parts. Tin coil, tin plate, and other metal clays such as copper, bronze, steel, have excellent features and properties in corrosion resistance and varying applications for printing plates, paint containers and parts used in 3D printers. We guarantee the best prices, quality support, and fast delivery. To find out more, please visit our Website, WordPress, LinkedIn , Twitter , Facebook and Instagram. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code. Moreover, we sell directly from Alibaba , EC21 and Tradekey.

#BuildingValueAcrossTheGlobe

Source and Pictures: 3dprintingindustry.com, 3dprinting-stocks.com, archdaily.com, huffingtonpost.com, gigaom.com

Camilla G.//SMC Editor

The Antarctican Training Programme – Could You Make It?

If you’ve got $4,500 spare and a taste for life threatening danger, then Antarctica is for you.

The coldest station is Halley with a winter temperature of around −50°C and a summer temperature of −10°C. The freezer in your kitchen is at about -22 degrees Celsius (-7.6 degrees Fahrenheit) despite the fact the outside temperature is more like 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). The freezer follows a cycle where it compresses the coolant, releases the heat to the back coils and pumps the colder coolant inside the freezer. So technically, during your midnight snack you endured similar temperatures than in the south pole….sort of.

Surprisingly, at its peak Antarctican tourism saw just under 50,000 visitors per year, mostly passing cruise ships but some sleep on the ice. So how do people prepare for the trip?

Rachel Andrews, 41, is using the cold storage vehicle to help her acclimatise to temperatures as low as -58F (-50C) in the Antarctic. The adventurer is using the back of Moby Nicks’ frozen fish van, a local company in her home town of Plymouth, to experience the sub-zero temperatures.

Some winter sportman have come up with innovative means of preparing for the race in addition to training on sand to simulate snow. The videos below from Spanish and French national television stations show athletes training in a giant industrial freezer.

Shanghai Metal manufactures the stainless steel plate for freezers as one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of metal products.

SMC produces about 8000-10000 metric tons of stainless steel every month. As a holder of large stores of metal products, we are able to provide low prices, high quality, excellent support, and quick delivery times. To find out more, please visit our website, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Or you could try our new mobile app by scanning our QR code.

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