The Essential Guide to Shipping Container Home Design
From preliminary guides, to lists of trusted companies, to exemplary floor plans, these resources will get you started on your own shipping container home.
As a building block, shipping containers are both durable and versatile—convert one into a tiny home or a backyard office, or stack and arrange them to create a bold residence like this film producer’s starburst-shaped retreat in the desert. In addition to saving on construction costs, upcycling an old container can be an eco-friendly alternative to building from the ground up. Start here to learn more about building your own shipping container home, from design inspiration to practical guides.
Guides to Building a Shipping Container Home
Before you embark on your build-out, take a look at the resources and inspiration below.
How to Buy a Shipping Container
Owner Stacey Hill was instantly drawn to this shipping container’s existing blue color and chose to leave it unchanged. Architect Jim Poteet added floor-to-ceiling sliding doors to allow light in, as well as a cantilevered overhang to shade a window on the left side, which houses a small garden storage area.
Photo: Chris Cooper
Atelier Riri devised a creative way to make living inside a shipping container in Indonesia’s tropical climate both comfortable and economical. The architects layered recycled pine, glass wool, and planter mesh on top of the home to help keep temperatures down.
Courtesy of Teddy Yunantha
Situated on 10-acres of rolling prairie north of Livingston, Montana, Little Box on the Prairie is a 700-square-foot house made from two recycled shipping containers. Many of the finishes, such as the redwood flooring and plywood wall panels, were salvaged off-site, then recycled and reused for the construction.
Photo: Airbnb
Shipping Container Companies and Floor Plans
There are a ton of companies with impressive, out-of-the-box designs, and most are customizable to fit your needs.
5 of Our Favorite Shipping Container Companies in North America
Tomecek Studio’s Container House in Nederland, Colorado, is a 1,500-square-foot residence anchored into a rock outcropping. The dwelling—which comprises two insulated shipping containers clad in fireproof plank siding—is powered by photovoltaic rooftop panels and takes advantage of passive solar strategies to keep energy demands to a minimum.
Photo by Braden Gunem
The H4 is HONOMOBO’s most efficient shipping container home. At just over 700 square feet, the home has two bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a full kitchen, and one bathroom.
Courtesy of HONOMOBO
This prefabricated kit house by Adam Kalkin is designed from recycled shipping containers. Its 2,000-square-foot plan includes three bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths. The shell of the Quik House can be assembled in one day, and the entire home can be built in three months or less.
Courtesy of Quik House
Spain- and Poland-based firm James & Mau is widely experienced in design, on-site building, and permitting. The architects focus on modular industrialized architecture and construction, while applying bioclimatic and sustainable concepts.
Courtesy of James & Mau
Made of two 40-foot-long shipping containers that are offset from one another, the Model 6 by IndieDwell offers 640 square feet of living space.
Courtesy of IndieDwell
Best Examples of Shipping Container Homes
Draw inspiration from a diverse assortment of customized shipping container homes.
Dwell’s Top 10 Upcycled Shipping Containers of 2017
Located on owner Lucas Steyn’s family farm in Botrivier, South Africa—about 90 minutes from Cape Town—Copia is an eco-retreat comprised of two shipping container cabins.
Courtesy of Copia Eco Cabins
Two San Francisco art and travel addicts overhauled a loft—and customized a pair of shipping containers—to accommodate and reflect their passions. The shipping containers were stacked, joined with steel tubes, and fastened to reinforced floor joints in order to make them earthquake-safe.
Photo: Drew Kelly
Located on New Zealand’s North Island along the Coromandel Peninsula, this timber-clad shipping container house by Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects captures the simplicity of living with nature. An open-plan layout extends the interior toward the surrounding landscape and ocean, while a built-in mechanism reveals a drop-down deck on one side of the unique holiday home.
Courtesy of Crosson Clarke Carnachan Architects
The roof of this residence was made from scraps taken from the sides of the shipping containers. Its slanted design creates a wind tower effect that provides natural ventilation and negates the need for air-conditioning.
Benjamin Garcia Saxe
Shipping Containers in Commercial or Hospitality Projects
Shipping container architecture isn’t just limited to residential—these hotels and storefronts bring the industrial aesthetic into the commercial and hospitality space.
5 Public Buildings in South Korea Made Out of Shipping Containers
Eight shipping containers were shifted and cut along a 45-degree angle, then combined in a fishbone pattern to create this arrow-shaped volume. The building, which was designed by New York–based firm LOT-EK, is raised almost 10 feet above the ground.
Courtesy of Kim Myoung-sik
Australia-based firm Contained specializes in transforming cargo vessels into well-designed lodgings. Each 20-foot shipping container easily opens up, flips out, and unfolds into a luxurious hotel room.
Photo by Daniel John Bilsborough
Located at The Proxy in Hayes Valley, San Francisco, AETHERsf is a concept space constructed from three 40-foot shipping containers stacked on top of each other. In addition to a curated selection of design-focused outerwear, the space features a custom, glass-encased cantilevered lounge with reclaimed oak floors and a belt-driven "dry cleaner-style" conveyor system.
Photo: Aether Apparel
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