Stillwater Dwellings, which has participated in both the 2013 and 2014 Dwell on Design exhibitions, puts a distinct emphasis on natural lighting, efficient floor plans, and high-quality craftsmanship to ensure innovative, modern designs.
Container Bar (Austin, Texas)
Years in the making, this stacked watering hole on Austin’s Rainey street has been a huge hit since opening earlier this year, and a soon-to-follow food truck should only bring in more business (and make it more spatially similar). While tap beer is often prefered, this seems like a rare time when canned beer might make more sense.
Photo by North Arrow Studio
In addition to saving on construction costs, upcycling an old container can be an eco-friendly alternative to building from the ground up.
Moseley notes the home’s distinctive staircase as one of her favorite features. "When the steel was ordered from the steelyard," she says, "it was marked with our metalworker’s name, for easy pickup. That scribble still exists in random places in the staircase and is very industrial—we love it!" Hand-welded by Mike Carman, a local contractor, the staircase runs through all three floors, and it was custom-sized to fit the dimensions of the shipping containers, measuring nine-feet-six-inches tall and eight-feet wide.
Trejos positioned the containers about 60 centimeters above the ground floor, which gives the main gallery and workspace a bit of a sunken feel. The double-level main room offers a spacious interior, perfect for large events and easily altered so it can be utilized as a photo studio for indoor shoots.
Finished in 2013, the 3,660-square-foot Casa Incubo was built from stacking and sliding four shipping containers to create a residence and gallery for photographer Sergio Pucci (who took all the photos of his new home). Set on flat ground, the two-story structure ended up being much easier for architect Maria Jose Trejos to complete than a typically constructed home, saving roughly 20 percent of the cost of a standard concrete block design.