Self-Contained
Having purchased a 3.5-acre plot of land in Topanga, California, with a very rustic, 750-square-foot cabin on it several years ago, architect Christof Jantzen found himself in need of a fairly quick, low-cost house expansion for his family (wife Lauryn and three young sons). Jantzen, principal of the Venice, California, office of the firm Behnisch Architekten, soon came upon the idea that more space could be achieved by redesigning a series of recycled and modified shipping containers, which would drastically reduce the typical time-consuming process of a traditional remodel.
“Building my own house made me realize that this was doable,” says Jantzen. “Most of the prefab structures on the market are very expensive, so I tried developing these container structures that would bring the cost margin of prefab down, which I think should happen.” At a cost of around $100 to $150 per square foot, the structures can be customized, stacked and combined into one of six Jantzen designs ranging between 320 and 2,400 square feet. With builder Eric Engheben of 44 West Construction, Jantzen has completed, among other designs, a poolhouse in Brentwood, California, and is in the permit stage on a 2,400-square-foot, 18-container atrium house in Topanga.
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i love the idea!!!!!
What an interesting approach.
Love the modern container homes popping up - ingenius way of taking a solid material and reinventing it. Here are some of my other favorites: http://www.urbansherp.com/shipping-container-homes
Fast, cheap and UGLY. The poor little cabin appears to be a captured prey waiting for the slaughter. Some ideas, though modern, are not always appropriate in all cases...as this.
I love what is being done with containers, although the cost is still too high for most people. In this case the execution is elegant, but I don't see the need to semi-integrate the little cabin shell into the project.
Lovely pool cabana, great to see the images showing placement of the containers - really helps to understand the assembly its like a poor mans "exploded view"
Um, there is no insulation in these things, and valuable space would be lost if it were added. In my climate where there are extremes in hot and cold, living in one would seem as if I were living in a sweat box or freezer, depending on the season. Again, it doesn't seem like the best building material for a permanent dwelling. Besides, there might be bad vibes in them from smuggled cargo.
Amanda - they are insultaed - and they are gorgeous, check out the idea a little more....
I for one don't care much for shipping container homes. The Idea is novel but the application of most of the cases I've seen makes the notion pointless. Why use a shipping container if you are going to cut out all of the walls. If you are going to use one It would be cool to see the original shipping company's logo or name left on the container. Reminds me of the old industrial brick warehouses with the company's name painted on the side of the building. At least allow it to remain a shipping container. Here's one exception I like: http://inhabitat.com/container-city-in-mexico-is-entertainment-hot-spot/
I like that the splash photo that you click to view this project on the previous page is of a totally different project: The Kelly Residence by Abramson Teiger. An editorial fail...
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