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

Exterior Shipping Container Metal Siding Material Flat Roofline Metal Roof Material 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A floating, secondary roof with solar panels offers shade and facilitates passive cooling.

Amy Plank and Richard Vaughn linked three 20-foot shipping containers to create a striking and sustainable home in Victoria, Australia. The house is clad with interlocking Colorbond steel panels, accented by windows and doors framed with silvertop ash.

Photovoltaic panels top the roof of the building.

The underside of each solar fin was painted a metallic burnt orange as a reminder of the COR-TEN steel that the containers are constructed from.

The end face of the containers were cut out and replaced with a fixed double-glazed window that spans the height of the unit. The glass is fritted on the lower part for privacy.

The shipping containers are stacked five across and five high. The modular system enables the building to be dismantled and relocated at the end of Stow-Away’s lease.

Located on one of London’s oldest market streets, Lower Marsh, Stow-Away Waterloo is within close distance to many of the city’s most popular tourist destinations.

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.

"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.

Dietert Ranch by Thotenberry Wellen Architects is located in Midland, Texas and exudes a rustic feel despite its industrial materials.

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

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 front facade upcycles wood from the pallets used to ship in the cabinets.

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.

An exterior steel-and-wood bridge connects the upper floors of the two wings.

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

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.

The Media Lab is located in the middle of Bard College campus.

The Media Lab has been painted black to recede into the woods.

The only site prep required was pouring the concrete foundation walls.

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.

Small front patios connect the houses to their environment.

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.

Floor-to-ceiling windows front each unit, with sections of container wall folded out and fixed in place as part of the shading strategy.

The eight container apartments, huddled together in a wise use of the space, are situated on an old used car lot in downtown Phoenix. A decommissioned container costs between $1,800 and $5,000, says architect Wesley James. Transportation, handling, and site assembly run at least as much.

Architect: Karen Mar, YAMAMAR Design, Location: Manton, California

The containers are fused side-by-side, giving each apartment a 16-foot width. They are then stacked in four pairs with wrought, industrial-style exterior staircases in-between. To spare living space and installation headaches, a cinder block core houses utilities and a bathroom for each unit.

The apartments face a landscaped common courtyard. The site is an irregular trapezoid, a fact the zig-zagging sidewalks reflect well.