Storage Containers As a Base for Innovative Housing Design
Copying Cargotecture: Fake South Gippsland Container Home
A new ‘fake’ shipping container holiday home has been put on the market in South Gippsland, Victoria. Built as an investment by a Melbourne couple, it is an unusual home that is largely off-grid and sits on two hectares of its own land.
Shipping container architecture isn’t new to the Gippsland area – in a previous article we looked at a similar unit built and lived in by a couple who were inspired to build it from their travels in Europe. Let’s first look at the new property.
South Gippsland home for sale
Image source: Realestate.com.au
The 51 Desmond Street home in South Gippsland, Victoria, is not all it seems. It isn’t built of shipping containers for a start! The materials are the same – the Cor-Ten steel walls and dimensions of the home are the same as standard shipping containers.
The home is built from the same materials and has the same shape but has been built with energy efficiency in mind – it has double, insulated walls for a start that help it reach Energy Star 6.1 rating so energy bills in both heat and cold are absolutely minimised within.
Like shipping containers, the materials are effectively recycled too. It was felt by the couple, Marlene and Greg Moore, that it would be more efficient to build the home from scratch than to simply convert shipping containers in a factory and plonk them on site as the standard shipping container home is built. That remains to be seen, and the price at a whopping $745,000 suggests that this home isn’t as price-efficient as a home we usually promote here.
The couple said: “With a passion for design and intrigued by shipping container architecture we developed a build concept to creatively use repurposed and industrial materials as primary structural elements.”
Not the first Gippsland container home
Image source: Domain.com.au
This time last year we reported that another couple had built a shipping container home in Gippsland – a ‘traditional’ container home built out of real shipping containers. This one is of a similar size to the new one above, and sits on a similar sized plot of land. Its cost? Just $175,000 all in.
In January last year we reported in Gateway Gazette, “Given you can buy a shipping container for as little as $7,000, you can see that the couple spent a lot of cash – $133,000 – in making the place habitable. Vaughan is a carpenter and he worked hard in making all the furniture and fittings dual purpose for storage wherever possible. That allows for life in a small space without having to get rid of all your belongings – it is indeed possible to live comfortably in the home and to accrue all the trinkets and stuff you might in a normal home.”
Copying is the best form of flattery!
The new home, albeit a ‘fake’ container home, shows that cargotecture is a desirable format and is catching on across Australia. They do say that copying is the best form of flattery! The ‘traditional’ standard however is far cheaper to produce, even for a home of a similar size.
If you are inspired to build your own container home, the containers cost as little as $3,000 per unit and with a little work can be transformed into almost any shape you desire. Give us a shout at Gateway Container Sales today to discuss your needs!
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