Shipping Container Homes & Buildings: Beautiful Shipping Container Home with Energy Efficiency System, San Jose, Costa Rica

Beautiful Shipping Container Home with Energy Efficiency System, San Jose, Costa Rica

1. Building Process
2. Plans
3. Energy Efficiency System
4. About María José Trejos

Project: Casa Incubo (Incubo House)
Architect: María José Trejos
Area: 400 m²
Location: Escazu, San Jose, Costa Rica
Year: 2013
Photo: Sergio Pucci

The cedar tree plays a very important role for the space of this beautiful shipping container home, so that there is a visual contact to the tree from any point of the house. In addition, the shape of the house designed with harmony to climate elements of the surrounding place: double height central space acts as a lung with natural cross ventilation, and the glass facade provides natural lighting.

For the least possible environmental impact the architects took in account several considerations, in energy conservation system, as well as in materials and design. For example in the process of the choice of the building materials, main factors were their reusable, renewable, and recyclable qualities in addition to maintainability and durability. In furniture details, cedar tree wood was used as well as in the stairs. The deck was designed of certified wood from renewable sources mixed with bamboo, concrete floors and recycled plastic, among others. Also, the house water supply system has rainwater collection for irrigation and toilets. The hot water is solar-heated. Electricity can be provided with solar panels. For most doors in the container house,container doors were reused. Natural cross ventilation is enough for the house space so that the container home does not require additional air conditioning, and natural sunlighting makes virtually no necessary electric lights during the day.

The use of shipping containers in the design gives a rich contrast to the construction, in addition to significally reducing the environmental impact of this beautiful shipping container home, which means the reuse of an already existing building element for the construction, generating less CO2 emissions in athmosphere than the cement production for traditional houses and transportation to building site from trucking all those traditional materials, this without mentioning a less invasive earthworks. It is estimated that the total cost is reduced by 20% and the construction time about 20%.

The home area must also be used as a workplace for the owner, a professional photographer, who needs open spaces with a sufficient amount of light; a space that coincides with the ‘work and play’ philosophy while aiding creativity. a central 95m² area that can be used both for professional and personal purposes was formed by interconnecting and superposing containers. ‘The house dresses and undresses according to what you want to use it for,’ explains the architect, ‘be it a living room, an audiovisual space, a photographic or advertising studio.’