Shipping Container Homes & Buildings: 50 sqm 1 Bedroom Prefab Shipping Container Houses, Brazil

Refúgio da Cainã

Refúgio do Bosque

Refúgio do Purunã

About Hotel Fazenda Cainã

About Bruno Zaitter

Refúgio da Cainã

Floor plans / Drawings

Project	Refúgio da Cainã
Architects	Bruno Zaitter architect
Bedrooms	1
Area	50 m² (538 ft²)
Containers	1 x 40 ft
Year	2016
Location	Balsa Nova, Brazil
Photos	Bruno Zaitter, Sergio Mendonça Jr.
Manufacturers	Berneck, Blue Glass, Gerdal, Monte Claro Woods
Other Participants	Marcio Vecchi (manager of Hotel Fazenda Cainã)

Description by the project team.

Located in Campos Gerais in the state of Paraná in Brazil, Refúgio da Cainã 1 bedroom house is one of the accommodations of a farm hotel located exactly in the area of a geological fault called Escarpa Devoniana. With a privileged view in the foreground of the vast native forest, on the horizon it is possible to see both the city of Curitiba and Serra do Mar, distant about 50 km and 120 km respectively.

In this natural space marked by a wide green area and stones characteristic of the place, the 50 sqm prefab house contemplates a simplistic structural concept that reveals the connection of the interior with the exterior through minimal intervention in the natural environment. It has in its essence the relationship between the artificial structure and the natural universe, where the concept of the project is to enter into harmony with nature without trying to disguise itself, revealing its straight lines and opposing the curved and organic lines.

The structure becomes a simple support base, appears floating and favors a life in permanent contact with the natural environment. It translates a state of mind that reflects in a haven of urban confusion, where the user retires to appreciate what really matters: his time. Using a 12-meter-long shipping container as its main structure, the 50 sqm 1 bedroom prefab shipping container house has a glazed metal box that faces completely east, and a privileged view of the sunrise.

Whether due to the transparency of the glass planes or the opacity of the wood, simplicity and volumetric purity give all the protagonism to nature. It protects the natural aspect of the land, relying only on pillars directly on the ground, minimizing the impact of construction on the natural environment. The reuse of the shipping container, the speed in the prefab construction of the metallic structure and the smaller amount of waste on site are major factors for the least aggression to nature.

Floor plans / drawings

Refúgio do Bosque

Floor plans / Drawings

Project	Refúgio do Bosque
Architects	Bruno Zaitter architect
Area	50 m² (538 ft²)
Bedrooms	1
Containers	1 x 40 ft
Year	2017
Location	Balsa Nova, Brazil
Photos	Sergio Mendonça Jr., Ale Carnieri, Bruno Zaitter
Manufacturers	Berneck, Blue Glass, Gerdal, Madeiras Monte Claro

Description by the project team.

This 50 sqm 1 bedroom prefab shipping container house is a part of the accommodation group of a farm hotel in the municipality of Balsa Nova in southern Brazil. Deployed about 200 meters from a geological fault where it is possible to see much of the Serra do Mar in Paraná, Refúgio do Bosque is attached to a tree mass of native Atlantic forest. Surrounded by important natural elements, the project opens up to nature by two wide planes of glass, characterizing it as a link between nature and the man-made shelter.

The exterior connection - nature - and interior - shelter - forms the main inducing element of the design process of the refuge. The concept of causing minimal impact to the natural environment made it possible to reach the formal architectural party, where the purity of the right angles of the volume and the facades with few elements further enhance the living and dynamic atmosphere of the surroundings.

In addition to seeking formal prominence to the surrounding nature, structurally the 50 sqm prefab house project relies on the reuse of a 12-meter-long shipping container as the main structure. For the secondary structure, precast metal was used, and finally, wood to form both the access deck to the refuge and the deck for contemplating the landscape.

Wood is also used as the main finishing material. On the east façade, it is shown to be sovereign by altoclaved pine boards in the vertical direction. On the inside, wood leads the user to comfort due to its natural texture on the floor, ceiling and furniture.

It is internally that the project highlights its dynamic side. The functionality is presented with the bathroom as the only isolated space within this 50 sqm 1 bedroom prefab shipping container house. Everything else forms a free plan that can organize the sleeping, eating and living areas according to the user's logistics and needs.

Floor plans / Drawings

Refúgio do Purunã

Floor plans / Drawings

Project	Refúgio do Purunã
Architects	Bruno Zaitter architect
Area	50 m² (538 ft²)
Containers	1 x 40 ft
Bedrooms	1
Year	2016
Location	Balsa Nova, Brazil
Photos	Sergio Mendonça Jr.
Manufacturers	Berneck, Blue Glass, Duraflor Nature, Gerdal, Madeiras Monte Claro
Other Participants	Marcio Vecchi (manager of Hotel Fazenda Cainã)

Description by the project team.

Refúgio do Purunã shipping container house is located in the municipality of Balsa Nova at the foot of the Escapa Denoviana, a geographical fault that separates the first plateau of Paraná from the second plateau. Its privileged view contemplates both the urban environment - cities of Campo Largo and Curitiba - as well as the nature of the Atlantic forest and the Serra do Mar of Paraná. The 50 sqm 1 bedroom prefab shipping container house is protected to the west by a forest of native forest and opens to the east and north for a panoramic view of Brazilian nature.

The project's concept was to group together the essential universes of human life - eating, sleeping, cleaning, working and socializing in a space of about 50m2 with the greatest possible contact with the surrounding natural landscape. Thus, the internal environment is related to nature, opening its social spaces to the outside and protecting its intimate spaces in a game of full and empty.

Released about 3 meters from the ground, the refuge has as main structure a 12 meter long shipping container, and as secondary structures, two metal boxes lined with planes of glass and plasterboard. The larger glass box is occupied internally by the social area and the work area. The smaller glass box is intended for the kitchen in the house. And it is in this kitchen that the interior space literally touches the foliage of the forest's native forest. The container space, in addition to the sleeping space, also includes the entrance hall and the bathroom equipped with a bathtub.