Shipping container architecture is a form of architecture using steel intermodal containers (shipping containers) as structural element, because of their inherent strength, wide availability and relatively low expense.
Advantages
Strength and durability
Shipping containers are in many ways an ideal building material. They are designed to carry heavy loads and to be stacked in high columns. They are also designed to resist harsh environments - such as on ocean-going vessels or sprayed with road salt while transported on roads. Due to their high strength, containers are useful for secure storage.
Modular
All shipping containers are made to standard measurements and as such they provide modular elements that can be combined into larger structures. This simplifies design, planning and transport. As they are already designed to interlock for ease of mobility during transportation, structural construction is completed by simply emplacing them. Due to the containers' modular design additional construction is as easy as stacking more containers. They can be stacked up to 12 high when empty.
Transport
Pre-fabricated modules can also be easily transported by ship, truck or rail, because they already conform to standard shipping sizes.
Availability
Used shipping containers are available across the globe.
Expense
Many used containers are available at an amount that is low compared to a finished structure built by other labor-intensive means such as bricks and mortar — which also require larger more expensive foundations. Construction involves very little labor and used shipping containers requiring only simple modification can be purchased from major transport companies for as little as US $1,200 each. Even when purchased brand new they are seldom more than US $6000.
Disadvantages
Temperature
Steel conducts heat very well; containers used for human occupancy in an environment with extreme temperature variations will normally have to be better insulated than most brick, block or wood structures.
Humidity
As noted above, single wall steel conducts heat. In temperate climates, moist interior air condenses against the steel, becoming clammy. Rust will form unless the steel is well sealed and insulated.
Labor
The welding and cutting of steel is considered to be specialized labor and can increase construction expenses, yet overall it is still lower than conventional construction. Unlike wood frame construction, attachments must be welded or drilled to the outer skin, which is more time consuming and requires different job site equipment.
Construction site
The size and weight of the containers will, in most cases, require them to be placed by a crane or forklift. Traditional brick, block and lumber construction materials can often be moved by hand, even to upper stories.
Building permits
The use of steel for construction, while prevalent in industrial construction, is not widely used for residential structures. Obtaining building permits may be troublesome in some regions due to municipalities not having seen this application before.
Treatment of timber floors
To meet Australian Government quarantine requirements most container floors when manufactured are treated with insecticides containing Copper (23-25%) Chromium (38-45%) and Arsenic (30-37%) Before human habitation, floors should be removed and safely disposed. Units with steel floors would be preferable, if available.
Cargo spillages
A container can carry a wide variety of cargo during its working life. Spillages or contamination may have occurred on the inside surfaces and will have to be cleaned before habitation. Ideally all internal surfaces should be abrasive blasted to bare metal, and re-painted with a nontoxic paint system.
Solvents
Solvents released from paint and sealants used in manufacture might be harmful.
Damage
While in service, containers are damaged by friction, handling collisions, and force of heavy loads overhead during ship transits. The companies will inspect containers and condemn them if cracked welds, twisted frames or pin holes are found, among other faults.
Markets
Brisk trade in Bishkek's Dordoy Bazaar.
Empty shipping containers are commonly used as market stalls and warehouses in the countries of the former USSR.
The biggest shopping mall or organized market in Europe is made up of alleys formed by stacked containers, on 69 hectares (170 acres) of land, between the airport and the central part of Odessa, Ukraine. Informally named "Tolchok" and officially known as the Seventh-Kilometer Market it has 16,000 vendors and employs 1,200 security guards and maintenance workers.
In Central Asia, the Dordoy Bazaar in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, almost entirely composed of double-stacked containers, is of comparable size. It is popular with travelers coming from Kazakhstan and Russia to take advantage of the cheap prices and plethora of knock-off designers.
In 2011 the Cashel Mall in Christchurch, New Zealand reopened in a series of shipping containers months after it had been destroyed in the February earthquake that devastated the city's central business district.
Other uses
· A 40-foot Portable Modular Data Center.
· Shipping containers have also been used as
· Press Boxes
· Emergency hurricane shelters for thoroughbred horses
· Concession Stands
· Fire Training Facility
· Military Training Facility
· Emergency shelters
· School buildings
· Urban homes
· Rural homes
· Apartment and office buildings
· Artists' studios
· Stores
· Moveable exhibition spaces on rails
· Telco hubs
· Bank vaults
· Medical clinics
· Radar stations
· Shopping malls
· Sleeping rooms
· Recording Studios
· Abstract art
· Transportable factories
· Modular data centers (e.g. Project Blackbox, Portable --Modular Data Center)
· Experimental labs
· Clandestine Cannabis gardens
· Combatant Temporary Containment (ventilated)
· Bathrooms
· Showers
· Workshops
· Intermodal sealed storage on ships, trucks, and trains
· House Foundations on unstable seismic zones
· Elevator/stairwell shafts
· Block roads and keep protesters away, as photo -journalized during the Pakistan Long March [6]
· Hotels
· Construction trailers
· Mine site accommodations
· Exploration camp
· VIP Lounge Viewing Deck
For housing and other architecture
Shipping container cottage.
Containers are in many ways an ideal building material because they are strong, durable, stackable, cuttable, movable, modular, plentiful and relatively cheap. Architects as well as laypeople have used them to build many types of buildings such as homes, offices, apartments, schools, dormitories, artists' studios and emergency shelters. They are also used to provide temporary secure spaces on construction sites and other venues on an "as is" basis instead of building shelters.
Phillip C. Clark filed for a United States patent on November 23, 1987 described as "Method for converting one or more steel shipping containers into a habitable building at a building site and the product thereof". This patent was granted August 8, 1989 as patent 4854094. The diagrams and information contained within the documentation of this patent appear to lay the groundwork for many current shipping container architectural ideas. Even so, this patent does not appear to have represented a novel invention at its time of filing (Paul Sawyers described extensive shipping container buildings that were used on the set of the 1985 movie Space Rage Breakout on Prison Planet).
During the 1991 Gulf War, containers saw considerable nonstandard uses not only as makeshift shelters but also for the transportation of Iraqi prisoners of war. Holes were cut in the containers to allow for ventilation and there were no reported ill effects from this method. Containers continue to be used for military shelters, often additionally fortified by adding sandbags to the side walls to protect against weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades ("RPGs").
The abundance and relative cheapness of these containers during the last decade comes from the deficit in manufactured goods coming from North America in the last two decades. These manufactured goods come to North America from Asia and, to a lesser extent, Europe, in containers that often have to be shipped back empty, or "deadhead", at considerable expense. It is often cheaper to buy new containers in Asia than to ship old ones back. Therefore, new applications are sought for the used containers that have reached their North American destination.
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"Shipping containers could be 'dream' homes for thousands." CNN. Accessed September 24, 2008.