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All Photos/Editor’s Picks/exterior/building type : shipping container

Exterior Shipping Container Design Photos and Ideas

In the midst of the pandemic, a family leverages industry connections and modular construction to quickly rebuild a cliffside getaway on a fire-ravaged site in the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve.
The house for Kundan's mother, dubbed Chameli, is constructed of two 40 x 8 containers located next to the family's garden.
Mary and Kundan Bhullar built a shipshape country escape that sits lightly on the land in the Aravalli hills near Gurgaon, India.
The outdoor terrace folds up, and the roof can be detached so that the container home can be easily relocated.
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.
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.
While shopping for containers, Hill was instantly drawn to this one’s existing blue color and chose to buy it and leave it as is. 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.
This eco-friendly escape is powered by solar panels and a wind turbine—and it even includes a full bath.
Amagansett Modular House by MB Architecture
In February of 2007, two San Francisco art and travel addicts purchased a 3,200-square-foot former Chinese laundry and tooth-powder factory with column-free interiors and a zigzagging sawtooth roof in lower Pacific Heights. They customized a pair of shipping containers to accommodate their collection and reflect their passions, and hired a local company to sandblast the interior to expose the board-formed concrete walls and replace the carpeted floors with Georgia hickory pecan planks to further lengthen the loft and make it look more like a warehouse.
A glassed-in walkway connects the open-plan living areas to a separate bedroom wing.
The architecture follows the natural contours of the wedge-shaped site: the building is placed on higher ground on the site’s wider east end, while exterior decking steps down to the pool to the west.
The units were designed to accommodate green roofs, which were part of the initial design intent, but put on hold for budgetary reasons.
Established in 1997, Artisans Group in Olympia designs modern homes throughout the greater Seattle and Portland areas. Their design-build models allow the company to provide full design services, and thanks to a partnership with Phoenix Haus—a Passive House panel fabricator—they are now able to develop Passive House prefab homes.
"Each project is unique and requires a customized design, communication, and implementation strategy with an integrated design process and approach by a team tailor, the necessary specialists are recruited internally or externally," says sculp(it) of Antwerp, Belgium.
Designed for an artist and entrepreneur client, this guest house features lots of light, access to the outdoors, and an industrial vibe.
A narrow and long 8 by 40 feet empty steel shipping container in an artists’ community in San Antonio, Texas serves a playhouse, garden retreat, and guesthouse for visiting creatives.
Insta-House by MB Architects
Project Name: Box Office
Project Name: Seatrain Residence
Based in Sacramento, CA, TAYNR specializes in prefab homes built from shipping containers.
The main room opens to the quad through a large pivoting garage door.
Installation started at 11 a.m. and the second floor was stacked by 3 p.m. later that same day.