What is a Shipping Container?
Two Container Homes Win Award for Innovation and Craftsmanship
The builders of two shipping container homes in the historic town of Old Fort, North Carolina have won an award for their craftsmanship and innovation in construction. Both are designed as affordable housing in an otherwise unaffordable and desirable area of the state but, even while cheap to build and sell, they have been built to very high standard.
The development by TripJack Investments comprises a two bedroom and a one bedroom home. Recycled materials figure heavily in the construction as well as low energy use. They were built in just 30 weeks.
Container home concept
The two homes are built using shipping containers as the main fabric. Many are used just once or twice in their careers of carrying goods around the world thanks to the imbalance of trade between the manufacturing centres of the Far East and the consumer centres of the West and Australasia.
The fact that they get used far less than they are designed to be means that most are in extremely good condition when left disused at depots. Some get recycled for their wood and steel, while others are sold on to repurposing companies, such as Gateway Container Sales here in Brisbane. Being in good condition means that they can be used in architecture.
Old Fort development
The one bed home consists of three, 40 foot containers, while the larger, two bedroom home consists of four. Like Lego, these units are effectively large hollow bricks that can be laid out in almost any direction and be put together quickly to minimise labour costs, while still allowing a high quality fit out.
The homes have gardens and living areas at the rear overlook a trout stream, with the bathrooms and bedrooms out front facing the road. This takes advantage of the unique location in which they sit. An unusual feature is the hydro seeded ‘green’ roof. This uses a soil product from New York that consists of compost and recycled styrofoam. When grown the green roof will not only give the homes character but add natural insulation.
Builder Bill Triplett says that using shipping containers for housing developments “Lowers the cost and it’s great for the environment. It was fun to have a project that is quick. We had very little construction waste—we used only two dumpsters for the whole project. There is very little environmental impact because we started with something that was already done.”
2019 Parade of Homes Asheville Awards
Here at the Gateway Gazette we see a lot of shipping container homes going up around the world so for us it isn’t an amazingly unique concept. For many towns and cities around the world however when one arrives it causes a stir. This was no exception in Asheville, North Carolina.
Thanks to innovations such as a styrofoam based green roof garden for improved insulation and the very fact that the homes are built of shipping containers, the local Parade of Homes gave the developers of the Old Fort container houses a Gold Award for craftsmanship.
Such awards recognise that across the globe, there are builders wanting to help tackle the problem of affordable housing using shipping container architecture. These homes can be built for far lower costs than bricks-and-mortar homes without skimping on costs of the internal fixtures and fittings.
Gateway Container Sales
There is a real buzz about shipping container architecture both here in Australia and around the world as more and more cities see new container homes being built. They are affordable yet very decent to live in, from luxury mansions right down to local authority housing. Does the idea of building a shipping container home or development appeal to you? If so give us a shout to talk about supplying you with the big boy’s Lego bricks you need to put your homes together at a high speed yet low cost!
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