Designing & rebuilding the new world – part 3
Reducing construction costs and shipping waste
Shipping containers are playing a huge role in the freight industry and can be found everywhere — there are estimated to be over 20 million of them in the world. Every day new units are still being made, as older ones that are still structurally good are being retired and used for storage or buildings. Eventually, some clever architects and developers figured out that they had a ready-made solution to the cost of home-building materials.
In 2019, the average cost to build a single family-home in the United States was $270,00. Building materials account for a large percentage of that. Wood, concrete, brick, roofing materials and all the other components of a house add up quickly. And apartment buildings in cities cost many, many times that.
Containers are a convenient and cost-effective construction material. They come ready-made with many advantages:
Sturdy steel construction that’s designed to be stacked and requires minimal reinforcement
Typical height of 8.5 feet, an ideal height for residential ceilings
Incredibly inexpensive when compared to traditional building materials
Can easily be placed side-by-side or perpendicular to create interesting new structure shapes and spaces
Relatively easy and inexpensive to cut and weld together for structural adjustments
In the end, the thing that container buildings may excel at the most is striking a balance between the essential functions of a traditional house and the aesthetics and philosophy of 21st-century urbanism.
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