September 2024
Elena Arce Fariña1, Mirela Panait2,3,*, José María Lago-Cabo4 and Raquel Fernández-González5
1 Department of Industrial Engineering, CITIC, CTC, University of A Coruña, 15403 Ferrol, Spain;
elena.arce@udc.es
2 Faculty of Economic Sciences, Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiesti, 39, Bd. Bucures, ti,
100680 Ploiesti, Romania
3 Institute of National Economy, Romanian Academy, 010071 Bucharest, Romania
4 Faculty of Communication and Social Sciences, University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain;
jose.maria.lago@alumnado.uvigo.gal
5 ERENEA-ECOBAS, Department of Applied Economics, Faculty of Economics, University of Vigo,
Campus As Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310 Vigo, Spain; raquelf@uvigo.es
* Correspondence: mirela.matei@upg-ploiesti.ro
Abstract
Shipping containers that remain in ports after exporting or importing products cause an
environmental and logistical problem. Transporting them to the port of origin is costly; therefore,
some of them are stored in the regions of destination. Recycling or reusing them in an efficient and
sustainable way represents a clean alternative. The purpose of this article is to analyze the feasibility
and impact of implementing different insulating configurations on the energy demands required by a
house based on a construction with standardized shipping containers. More specifically, it assesses
the impact of the different orientations in which the dwelling can be arranged, depending on the
location and its meteorological data. To this aim, a construction model will be developed in which
first, the geometrical parameters are defined, and second, the energy characteristics are identified.
The results show that, in Southwest Europe, the western orientation generates a saving of 10% of the
energy demand compared to the less favourable orientation, which is the southern one.
$250,000 800 sqft 3 Bedrooms Shipping Container Home, Port Charlotte, Florida
Floor Plans
Location
| Containers | Two 40 ft, one 20 ft |
| Area | 800 sqft |
| Bedrooms | 3 |
| Bathrooms | 2 |
| Cost | $250,000 (2025) |
| Location | Port Charlotte, Florida, United States |
| Year | 2021 |
Zillow:
Simplistic living in a reliable and strong shipping container home at its finest! This solid metal structure comes equip with a metal roof and all impact windows and doors providing the ultimate hurricane proof protection that you're looking for in Florida. Completely energy efficient with spray insulated walls and ceilings and 3 mini split AC system. No HOA and no DEED restrictions + city water. The property features a detached bungalow (20 ft shipping container) with a kitchenette, bathroom and private entrance. The current owner (2025) uses it as a short-term rental where it rents out consistently.
The property backs up to a beautiful preserve that nobody can ever build on and since the property front faces east, you get a spectacular sunset view in the evening. This 20,000 square foot piece of property features approximately 7000 square feet of gravel parking area for ample space to bring your cars, boats, RVs and much more, graveled area includes two sunshade spots providing covered parking + a concrete driveway out front.
The kitchen features modern-style quartz countertops and soft close cabinetry. The master bathroom features a gorgeous river rock shower. The shipping container home has an open floorplan with a super cute and spacious living area. Home is outfitted with waterproof luxury vinyl flooring with a double water barrier.
Tons of solar light around the property creating a super Zen area to relax. Firepit included. Vinyl fence separates yourself from any neighbors providing pure privacy. The back permiter of the property is outfitted with 140 feet of rip rap that is designed to turn into a creek when it rains. Outdoor shower on the breezeway and enough space to extend the shipping container structure if you ever have ambitions to do so!
Using shipping containers to provide temporary housing in post-disaster recovery: Social case studies
4th International Conference on Building Resilience, Building Resilience 2014, 8-10 September 2014, Salford Quays, United Kingdom
Guomin Zhang*, Sujeeva Setunge, Stefanie van Elmpt
School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC3001, Australia
School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC3001, Australia
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +61-3-99253824; fax: +61-3-96390138.
E-mail address: kevin.zhang@rmit.edu.au
Abstract
Housing that makes use of the ubiquitous general purpose shipping container is becoming more commonly seen as a useful way of reusing the empty vessels as valuable accommodation. In particular, the application of shipping container temporary housing is suited to post-disaster situations, design examples of which can be found in the literature. However, ensuring the success of implementing such projects in a post-disaster setting requires investigation into the social considerations of temporary housing. This research takes a qualitative approach, focusing particularly on case studies of temporary housing experiences following the Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Christchurch Earthquake in 2011 and a field study of 2009 Black Saturday bushfire-affected communities in Victoria, Australia. Key social factors found to be significant to the success of shipping container temporary housing projects relate to flexibility in ownership, reuse and siting arrangement, in addition to robust pre-disaster planning by authorities, taking into account the varying characteristics of different types of disasters.
Blok Studio Container Resort - 1300 sqft 2 Bedrooms Shipping Container Home, Heated Pool and Spa, Joshua Tree, California
Location and Contact Info
Construction
Video
About Builder - Blok Studio
| Project | Blok Studio Container Resort |
| Designer and Builder | Blok Studio |
| Containers | 4 |
| Area | 1300 sqft Living Area + 1400 sqft Deck Area |
| Year | 2024 |
| Location | Joshua Tree, California, United States |
Welcome to Blok Studio. This is a new, modern one-of-a-kind container home, which features (4) 40ft high cube shipping containers, DirecTV, large wrap around deck, 20' container heated pool plus hot tub!
Great place to unwind in the serene outdoor living areas, complete with breathtaking views of the Joshua Tree landscape. Property is located on the south side of the 62 Highway. Just 1 mile from the downtown area and four miles minutes to the West entrance of the Joshua Tree National Park.
You will have access to the surrounding area around the property. Includes a hot tub, heated container pool, outdoor furniture, propane fire pit, BBQ grill, sun chairs on the deck plus more!
Performance Evaluation of Shipping Container Potentials for Net-Zero Residential Buildings
April 2020
Laura Battaglia1 and Jeehwan Lee2
1. Department of Architecture, School of Engineering and Technology, Hampton University, 100 E. Queen Street, Hampton, VA 23669, laura.battaglia@hampton.edu
2. Department of Architecture, School of Engineering and Technology, Hampton University, 100 E. Queen Street, Hampton, VA 23669, jeehwan.lee@hampton.edu
ABSTRACT
Recycled shipping containers have the potential to be successfully used as a net-zero ready home. This study aims to evaluate the outcomes of a high-performance shipping container single-family housing project located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The project was awarded the Best Undergraduate Project in the Single-family division at the 2019 U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon Design Challenge. The Hampton University Millennial Village Design Team designed a marketable net-zero ready container home for the ViBe Creative District in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Container Homes are not suitable for every homeowner, but they have a particular appeal to a generation of young and creative people across the country. For many municipalities in Virginia, where container housing is not readily accepted, the ViBe creative district has been having discussions with City code officials and local architects about the benefits. The Hampton University Millennial Village Design Team aimed to take advantage of the competition as an opportunity to explore a building construction method that is not widely seen in this part of the country. Testing design for net-zero readiness is a comprehensive way to understand how this type of construction performs from a building science standpoint. Collaboration with professional industry advisors helped the team to use research-based design methods to work on a unique project that the team believes will become a reality in the future. For the performance assessment of a net-zero container house, several simulation tools were used to investigate the environmental impacts, daylight performance, envelope performance, Energy Use Intensity (EUI), Home Energy Rating System (HERS), and solar energy generation. As for energy standards and codes, the Virginia residential code (VRC) 2015, International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) 2015 and The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 90.1-2013 for residential buildings were consulted to set each variable for the net-zero container house project. The Rem/Rate energy simulation software achieved the HERS index of 51 and 0 without and with the applications of roof photovoltaics, respectively.
Laura Battaglia1 and Jeehwan Lee2
1. Department of Architecture, School of Engineering and Technology, Hampton University, 100 E. Queen Street, Hampton, VA 23669, laura.battaglia@hampton.edu
2. Department of Architecture, School of Engineering and Technology, Hampton University, 100 E. Queen Street, Hampton, VA 23669, jeehwan.lee@hampton.edu
ABSTRACT
Recycled shipping containers have the potential to be successfully used as a net-zero ready home. This study aims to evaluate the outcomes of a high-performance shipping container single-family housing project located in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The project was awarded the Best Undergraduate Project in the Single-family division at the 2019 U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon Design Challenge. The Hampton University Millennial Village Design Team designed a marketable net-zero ready container home for the ViBe Creative District in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Container Homes are not suitable for every homeowner, but they have a particular appeal to a generation of young and creative people across the country. For many municipalities in Virginia, where container housing is not readily accepted, the ViBe creative district has been having discussions with City code officials and local architects about the benefits. The Hampton University Millennial Village Design Team aimed to take advantage of the competition as an opportunity to explore a building construction method that is not widely seen in this part of the country. Testing design for net-zero readiness is a comprehensive way to understand how this type of construction performs from a building science standpoint. Collaboration with professional industry advisors helped the team to use research-based design methods to work on a unique project that the team believes will become a reality in the future. For the performance assessment of a net-zero container house, several simulation tools were used to investigate the environmental impacts, daylight performance, envelope performance, Energy Use Intensity (EUI), Home Energy Rating System (HERS), and solar energy generation. As for energy standards and codes, the Virginia residential code (VRC) 2015, International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) 2015 and The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 90.1-2013 for residential buildings were consulted to set each variable for the net-zero container house project. The Rem/Rate energy simulation software achieved the HERS index of 51 and 0 without and with the applications of roof photovoltaics, respectively.
District 10 Industrial Aesthetic Shipping Container Office Building, Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom
The first commercial building constructed from shipping containers in Scotland.
Location
Construction Video
About architect - Aim Design
About builder - Maxi Construction
| Project | District 10 Container Building |
| Architect | Ged Young, Aim Design |
| Builder | Maxi Construction |
| Structural and Civil Engineers | Fairhursts |
| Services Consultants | BBH |
| Cost Consultants | WJR Christie & Partners |
| Containers | 37 |
| Area | 950 sqm |
| Offices | 15 no. 38m2 offices, 1 no. 31m2 office, a communal kitchen/common room, a meeting room |
| Year | 2013 |
| Location | Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom |
Awards
- 2014 Scottish Design Awards: Commendation for Architecture: Commercial/ Offices Building or Project
- 2014 Dundee Civic Trust Awards: Commendation for its outstanding contribution to the townscape of Dundee
- 2014 Dundee Institute of Architects: Best Commercial Building, award for Interior Design and the Supreme Award for best overall project.
The District 10 container office building, designed by Ged Young of Aim Design Architects, received several awards including Best Commercial Building, an award for Interior Design as well as picking up the award for Best Client, Scottish Enterprise. The night was complete when the project received the top award of the evening, the Supreme Award for best overall project.
The first commercial container building for early start businesses in Scotland was opened in September 2013 at Seabraes, a former railway goods yard located to the west of Dundee’s waterfront. The project was joint funded by Scottish Enterprise, the European Regional Development Fund, Tayside charity Matthew Trust and received a financial boost from the Scottish Government’s capital investment in shovel ready projects.
Hotel R9 The Yard - Storage Container Hotel Made From Separate 20 ft Units, Japan
Video
Location and Contact Info
There are a lot of unusual accommodations around Japan, but if you’re looking for one of the newest and most convenient places to stay, you can’t go past Hotel R9 The Yard. This chain with the industrial-sounding name is notable for its unique lodgings, which are made out of storage containers.