In South Australia, grid battery storage has proven itself – it is now an important part of the state’s energy mix. Typically however, the sheer cost of batteries per kilowatt hour (kWh) makes them hard to justify. Could existing large power storage systems, such as those at data centres, be used as part of the…
US veterans of war are being given a second chance in life by being able to build their own shipping container homes and then, once they have moved up the housing ladder, to rent them out to their fellows. While the advertising to fight for your country in the United States can be pretty good…
After much battling with local aesthetes the Seacliff Surf Life Saving Club in South Australia has had the plans approved for a new shipping container surf watchtower. While not new, the idea is a good one. For a relatively low cost the community organisation can get their lifeguards high enough to, not only watch the…
While building his shipping container home in downtown Hamilton in Canada might have only taken a few months, it took four years of battling bureaucrats to get to that point. Sometimes a town’s councillors are harder to crack than physically putting a building together! Bureaucracy baffles brains… Broadcaster and NGO professional Geoffrey Young wanted…
Hughes Hall College at Cambridge University in the UK was the only college at the ancient and elite university without a Porter’s Lodge. While one of the younger colleges in Cambridge – founded in 1885 – it still has the ancient traditions of the centre of scholarship that just need a bit of support from…
In the fierce heat of the Gulf micro-state of Abu Dhabi standing outside for too long is ill-advised. Temperatures can reach up to 40 degrees C plus so you can sweat buckets as you wait for your bus. The Arab state authorities have long been installing air conditioned bus shelters around the country for the…
Now for something that shipping container architecture does very well: a radical, stunning new home on stilts in Wye River, Victoria. A weekend retreat with a difference Designed by Studio Edwards architects, this home consists of three, 20ft shipping containers that are in a boomerang shape, cantilevered on stilts on the hillside above the ocean. …
While famous for its music culture Nashville, Tennessee in the USA has much of the same problems with housing affordability as any city in the world. Broke up-and-coming musicians, for example, just can’t afford to live where the action is! The answer seems to be in modular shipping container construction. 83 Freight The 83 Freight…
There’s a housing crisis in the United Kingdom with the wealthy forcing housing prices far above what ordinary people can afford. The solution in the eyes of Yorkshire based REACH Homes may well be in building ultra energy efficient, ultra affordable shipping container homes. The UK housing crisis For several decades there has been a…
One great thing about repurposed shipping containers is that they are almost endlessly versatile. As shown in The Shipping Container in Vancouver, Canada, the very same unit can have a variety of guises over time – this one is being converted several times into different pop up retail and food outlets. The Shipping Container The…