3000 sq ft Shipping Container House, Phoenix, Arizona

Location

About Jorge Salcedo

About Braid Contracting

Designer and Builder	Jorge Salcedo, Braid Contracting
Project	Gold Container Home
Containers	4
Area	3,000 square foot
Cost	$610,000 (2018)
Year	2014
Location	Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Description by realtor, 2018

A home constructed of shipping containers is unlike anything the Phoenix housing market has seen. The structure, consisting of four shipping containers, is a fascinating riff on the region’s shipping container craze, which includes The Churchill, a small-business incubator downtown built from containers.

The homeowner, who’s also an engineer, built this three-bedroom, four-bath passion project at the urging of his two children and lived in it briefly. It’s now listed with Shara Terry of Berkshire Hathaway for $610,000.

“He wants to take this concept and see where it can go, perhaps build more,” says Terry.

For those leery about waking up in what might feel like a steel cage, listen up: “When you’re inside the home, it’s seamless, especially upstairs,” Terry says. “It’s a hybrid. You’ve got two shipping containers on the east and two on the west, with traditional framing in the center.”

Taking a year to build, the 3,000-square-foot property has a dazzling interior that bears little resemblance to the cold metal of a container. Catering to eco-minded buyers, the four-car garage features a car charger and is wired for a workshop. Aluminum radiant barrier material aims to combat Arizona’s harsh sun from heating up the home’s interior.

South Mountain, where the home is located, is a booming area of Phoenix and named for the nearby mountain.

“Every window you look out of captures [a view],” says Terry. “If you’re washing the dishes, for example, you can see the East Valley.”

And the neighborhood is on the rise, and appealing to a savvy investor looking for a different type of dwelling.

“South Mountain has rewoken up,” says Terry. “It was quite the craze back in the day, until everything kind of halted when the market crashed.”

In 2020, the Loop 202 (South Mountain Freeway)—a 22-mile extension of the 202 freeway—will be complete, connecting with Interstate 10 and the West Valley. And the new Valley Metro Baseline light-rail line is a mile north.

Because this area is close to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Terry thinks a new owner might use it as a “crash pad” for airline pilots and flight attendants. It could also be used for a corporation’s social events, given its eye-catching design. Whatever the use, we’re sure it’s a place that will always remain cool in the desert.

1300 sqft 3 Bedroom Shipping Container Home, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Video

Floor Plans

Location

About Paragon Designs

Architect and Builder	Paragon Designs
Containers	1x25ft, 4x40ft
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	2
Area	1300 sq ft
Year	2021
Cost	$280,000
Location	Minneapolis, Minnesota

Description by Zillow

Own a jaw dropping, one of a kind piece of art in the Jordan neighborhood. This is the first shipping container house in Minneapolis and Paragon Designs was the mastermind behind the artful design and its construction. The shipping container house sitting high on a corner lot will stop anyone in their tracks and have them begging to see inside. Within those metal walls, you'll see a shipping container home filled with light and unique features that highlight earthly elements: rock - tile and counters, wood - custom staircase and kitchen counters and metal - exposed walls of the shipping container. The builder had thoughtfully designed the doors of the shipping containers to be support of the entrances and upper level decks for an outdoor enjoyment. Beyond the true beauty of this home, it's owner will appreciate the fact that it is zero energy ready. This show stopper is available to the right buyer that qualifies for the Minneapolis Homes Program.

2021

Beach Box Shipping Container Home, Sunshine Coast, QLD, Australia

Location

Video

About O.G.E Group Architects

About PJP Construct

Architecture	O.G.E Group Architects
Project	Beach Box Buddina
Owner and Architect	John Robertson
Builder	PJP Construct
Containers	3
Cost	$170,000
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	1
Year	2014
Location	Buddina, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia
Photography	Ross Eason

AWARDS	AIA Gabriel Poole Award for Building of the year 2014
	AIA Regional Commendation 2014

AIA Gabriel Poole Award for Building of the year 2014 Jury Citation

The utilization of “once used” shipping containers provides a robust and cost effective opportunity to re-engage with the beach culture and mixed use zoning of Buddina. The grouping provides separate private zones with pop outs for greater internal widths, linking with decks and courtyards and a simple skillion roof over entry referencing modest beach house vernacular. This playful use of containers, engages simple yet appropriate interiors and integration with the landscape. However, its power lies in the way it engages with the street and greater public domain through blurred internal/external and public/private boundaries, street furniture and through its honest and engaging presentation.

Description by O.G.E Group Architects

The ‘Beach Box Buddina’ is a modern day beach shack which uses three shipping containers as the primary structural building modules. The end doors have been removed to make way for full glazing panels, surrounded by crisp white awnings to bring a modern feel and protect from the elements. Deck areas and an internalised roofed link tie the shipping containers together and provide a touch of skillion roof beach shipping container house vernacular.

The primary objective was to deliver a modern shipping container house with a very simple method of construction and very modest budget with an architectural language that could be regarded as being both gritty and refined, and both urban and coastal.

Features such as full height glazing to the ends of the modules, hardwood timber cladding fins, plywood lined roof over the deck and the sleek white alpolic awnings, create a striking architectural composition. The plan arrangement of the 3 modules at splayed angles and separated from each other with linking decks and an internal sitting area, create a dynamic and playful series of spaces.

Distinctive landscaping features including extensive custom cut and painted sleepers, painted edge timber screen fences, and gabian blocks to the front footpath line, compliment the shipping container home and bring refinement to the project as a whole.

The Beach Box is a unique architectural project which has successfully utilised a very raw building module to create a building of surprising substance and refinement, and one which opens up absolutely to celebrate its oceanfront location.

On Saturday 20 October 2018 the Beach Box in Buddina was open to the public as part of Sunshine Coast Open House. Visitors were able to walk through the space and hear about the challenges and rewards of designing and constructing such a unique building by owner and architect John Robertson.




Description by Live Sunshine Coast

Local Architect and Sole Director of O.G.E Group, John Robertson, believes that good architecture must challenge, test and respond to countless variables, which is exactly what he has achieved with his contemporary and eco-friendly ‘Beach Box’ Shipping Container Home in Buddina.

This modern-day shack uses three shipping containers as the primary structural building blocks and has the extremely modest and almost unbelievable budget of $170,000 to construct, which certainly isn’t something you hear these days for a modern beachside home.

John came up with the initial idea after finding the block of land that had future development potential. He needed something that was affordable, cost effective and flexible. He researched kit homes and other alternatives but found that they weren’t within the cost parameters he was seeking. John discovered the containers and the fire was sparked!

The plans were subjected to intense scrutiny by the local council with the case going to the State Parliament. The project was about to be called in (stopped) however logic prevailed and he was able to finish the project. Three months later he won the House of the Year award and received a commendation by the Minister of Innovation for the State finals, where he was up against a $10 million build.

John, his partner and their combined five kids have lived comfortably in the Beach Box Buddina for three years and are now looking to renovate by adding a master bedroom and a kid’s rumpus room. He said his favourite thing about the pods is that he can go to work in the morning and by the afternoon two new rooms would have been added.

Over the past 2-3 years John and his team have been developing a ‘design menu’ for people of all ages to create one of their very own pod homes starting at only $60,000. The major reason behind it is to give people the flexibility to put more money into their land and location rather than the house and in turn gain better capital growth.

As the shipping container house is small or ‘semi-tiny’, it has been designed to be very functional. This limits what you can buy and forces you to forego unnecessary house times i.e. “junk” as John likes to call it, that I am sure we are all very aware of, most likely filling your cupboards or corners!

As your life evolves or demands change, the bliss in these shipping container homes is that you don’t have to entirely move. The option of adding an extra room or two on top or to the side is easy.

With the famous quote by Glenn Murcutt in mind “touch the earth lightly”, John is extremely passionate about providing sustainable properties that embrace the outdoor land and don’t lock you into an air-conditioned room. These houses of humility enable people to have their own humble personality in an urban and architectural place.

He is a strong believer that it doesn’t have to be an expensive house to be cool!

John has very big plans for these sustainable pods and hopes to one day make them entirely ‘off the grid’ with integrated solar and battery power.

2,500 sqft Shipping Container House, Houston, Texas

About Will Breaux

Shipping Container Homes FAQ by Will Breaux

Builder and Owner	Will Breaux
Containers	11
Area	2500 sqft
Location	McGowen street, Houston, Texas
Photography	Will Breaux

Description by boredpanda

When it comes to building their dream home, people have a lot of different ideas. Some choose comfortable and small bungalows, others opt for luxurious mansions. However, there a handful of those to decide to ditch the traditional architecture and build something completely different, for instance, a container house. That’s exactly what designer Will Breaux did and now he’s a proud owner of a house built solely out of shipping containers.

His new home is located on McGowen street in Houston. According to the owner, his 11 container house is the most extensive structure of its kind. The shipping containers are piled on top of each other to create a three-story house, complete with a rooftop deck.




Breaux wanted to build his own shipping container house since the early 2000s, however, for a long time he struggled to find someone who would design the kind of house he wanted, so Breaux decided to do it himself.

“I began looking at projects that were being built that I liked. Ultimately, a designer with a home builder family was hired to design a 3 story townhouse to be built on the lot. After going round and round for months, I eventually had to fire that group because they weren’t willing to give me what I wanted. Thus, the journey to design my own house began around 2011,” the man wrote in his blog.

Breaux got the idea of a shipping container house in Texas many years ago before it was even a thing. Why containers? Well, the idea behind it is quite simple. “Shipping containers are strong, fireproof, long-lasting, hurricane resistant, and have common characteristics,” Breaux explains.

However, the man, who is not a professional builder, had no knowledge of what it would take to build his dream shipping container house. But he was determined to do whatever it takes. The first thing he did was to create a 3D sketch of the house. After long hours spent learning everything about constructing a house out of shipping containers, Breaux is now a proud owner of an impressive 2,500 square foot shipping container house. Now the house is almost completely furnished and looks just like Breaux had imagined it.

1000 sqft Shipping Container Home, Seattle, Washington

The exterior retains its shipping container industrial look; exterior doors open to reveal classic French doors

Location

Containers	6x20ft
Area	1000 sqft
Bedrooms	1
Year	2017
Location	Delridge, Seattle, Washington
Photography	Alex Crook

Description by seattlemag

When Julianna Carlson left her parents’ Delridge home for college in Santa Barbara, she never expected to tire of the eternal California sunshine. But the longtime Pacific Northwesterner couldn’t stay away—she graduated in 2015 and returned. She’s now settled on a plot of land she purchased just down the street from the house she grew up in.

Although the neighborhood is familiar, her home is completely novel. Disappointed by homes available in her price range, Carlson decided to do something different: The political science major, with no architectural experience, sketched out her own home made from used shipping containers.

Carlson purchased six 20-foot shipping containers from DryBox, a Chehalis company that provides shipping containers with custom modifications. The containers were trucked in and stacked in two days during the spring of 2017. Window holes were pre-cut based on Carlson’s specs, but the interior build-out—drywall for exterior-facing walls, plumbing, installing electrical—took almost a year, largely because obtaining proper permits wasn’t an easy process, she says. The city didn’t really know how to handle a container home.

On their exteriors, Carlson intentionally left the shipping containers—four on bottom, two stacked on top—largely untouched. But inside, she went with a cozy nautical theme: The handrail to the master bedroom upstairs is reminiscent of those on a ferry; tiny painted cargo boats are stenciled onto an accent wall downstairs; and a porthole in the master bedroom’s walk-in closet gives the feeling of being in a ship’s hull.

“I really wanted the interior space to feel bigger than it was,” Carlson says of maximizing her 1,000 square feet. “We’re a boat family—my parents used to commercial fish. I firmly believe that boats have it figured out when it comes to putting as much as possible in a small space.” To do that in her home, she relies largely on portable furniture—like a wheeled slab coffee table she made—that can be pushed aside when she and boyfriend Kris Wilson are entertaining. There’s also a 1,000-square-foot outdoor patio, which doubles the livable space (as weather allows).

Now 25, Carlson likely won’t live here forever. But she says she’s designed her home in a way that will allow for another container to be added to provide more space later. After all, she figures she only spent 70 percent of what it would have cost her to buy a comparable existing home. “I’ve really fallen in love with shipping containers, more than I ever thought possible,” she says.