| 4500+ Great Links | Why Use Shipping Containers in Buildings? |
| All rights reserved. 1. The container itselfDuring the early years of the Roman Empire, Vitruvius wrote a textbook on architecture that specified three features that buildings should have:
Shipping containers seem to be very successful in meeting the first two criteria. After all they are made to be stackable, made to last despite being shipped across oceans and continents. As for beauty, well to a certain extent that's up to you (and your architect) to achieve. But besides meeting these general criteria, containers appear to offer several more specific benefits. In particular:
2. CorrosionShipping containers are designed to endure salty ocean air, which is more corrosive: therefore they're coated with a zinc-laden paint which protects against the salty air. If you look at how containers have been used as housing or other buildings, you'll notice a pattern, namely that they tend to be used close to water. My guess is that if you want a structure to use more inland, a different kind of container would be a better choice than a steel one. You'll notice that containers used in trucking often use aluminum, no doubt in part because that metal is lighter but also because it is more appropriate for that environment.Here is a useful introduction about corrosion: MTEC link. 3. The zoning situationAlthough containers should be perfectly usable in conventional residential situations especially when stacked, paired (as in the Berkeley market), and used to create an interior space using a roof kit (as in the 12-Container House), not to mention when they are used as mini-hotels, it also occurs to me that containers may especially handy in situations where a foundation is not permitted, but a mobile structure is permitted. Weekend retreats, writer's sheds, and the like are ideal uses for container houses.4. HeatSteel conducts heat very well. Because of this insulation is vital, either on the inside or outside of a container. If you look at how people are using containers, often they are inside of wood-frame homes and thus there is a natural opportunity to put the insulation inside the wood walls.Links
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