All Photos/exterior/building type : shipping container/building type : house/siding material : metal/roofline : flat/roof material : metal

Exterior Shipping Container House Metal Siding Material Flat Roofline Metal Roof Material Design Photos and Ideas

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.

Transforming shipping containers into habitable spaces is a growingly popular subset of prefab. Just off the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, Martha Moseley and Bill Mathesius adapted an unused concrete foundation to create a home made from 11 stacked shipping containers. "We were inspired by the site, and our desire to have something cool and different," says Moseley.

For Bret and Dani Stone’s house in Santa Barbara, California, Barber Builders erected a concrete-and-steel ground level capable of supporting a second story made mostly of shipping containers. While the project as a whole took 19 months, the containers were craned into place in a single day in 2016.

The units were designed to accommodate green roofs, which were part of the initial design intent, but put on hold for budgetary reasons.

The project is designed to encourage outdoor living and communal interaction among residents. In addition to the central gathering space, front-facing porch swings and covered outdoor spaces nudge homeowners to relax and socialize.

AHMM kept 10 existing trees and introduced other local plants that would be able to absorb rainwater runoff from the buildings, paths, and paving.

The car ports at Squirrel Park were designed to segue from the street to the lot entrance, which then leads to a central green space. The ports can also accommodate solar panels in the future.

Known as the "project that kicked off Cargotecture," Hybrid’s Studio 320 was fabricated in 2004 and delivered to Enumclaw, Washington. The interior is lined in reclaimed plywood formerly used on the bleachers of a local high school gym.

Clad in white HardiePlank siding, the duplex was designed to mimic the industrial look of the shipping container extensions.

M02 by HONOMOBO

Workshop and Golf Tees by Back Country Containers

160-square foot Writer's Shack by Montainer Homes

Happy Twogether by Custom Container Living

Grannis Road House by Ty Kelly

Nine shipping containers form the basis of this new multigenerational house near Denver.

The two units in the duplex share a wall in the main house, so Rios continued the mirrored effect by placing the shipping containers side by side about 10 feet away from the home. Cut into the sides, the windows allow natural light to illuminate the shipping container and are designed to give parents a view of the kids playing in the backyard.

Rios asked architect Reynolds to derive a design from the shipping containers. The duplex takes the shape of stacked volumes clad with vertical and horizontal Hardie boards. The covered patio features clear-coated cedar wood.

The home exterior was recently sandblasted and painted with a ship-grade, high-gloss industrial paint.

Functioning as a vacation rental for tourists, entrepreneur Rick Clegg combined old shipping containers to create a four-bedroom home with an eco twist near Palm Beach, Florida. Because of the container's inherent durability, they meet Florida's stringent construction standards, and the compactness of the home, the low carbon footprint because of the use of the recycled, prefabricated containers, and the home's proximity to the Loxahatchee River, make it ideal for ecotourists.

The front door to the units.

Three environmentally friendly container homes.

Franceschi Container Houses are three independent living units totaling 2,260-square-feet, built from used, 40-foot high cargo containers placed side by side.

Poteet replaced one wall with a large steel-and-glass lift-and-slide window wall, which he says makes the best use of indirect light. “The big sliding door and picture window make the 250-square-foot living space feel big,” says Hill.