The ‘Double-Wide’ Concept Comes To Affordable Shipping Container Homes

house constructed from two shipping containers in a wooded area
Shipping containers continue to inspire housing innovation.

In the tiny, affordable house department, shipping containers seem to be always the bridesmaids, never quite the bride. The public is periodically introduced to intriguing new designs based on solid steel castaways as an affordable housing construction framework. With a sea-going life much shorter than their land-based potential, these containers are beached in ports around the world, and have accordingly attracted the attention of architects and developers internationally.

However, barring some exceptions1, affordable container homes never seem to progress beyond a clever prototype developed by stacked or end-linked units. Could it be that their highway transport-limited standard width of 8ft (2.43m) is unattractively narrow and dark?

TRS Studio, a Peruvian architectural firm, has taken a leaf from the manufactured home ‘double-wide’ concept to explore a side by side configuration. And rather than cut windows into the corrugated steel, they have chosen to flood the structure with light by adding an upper story constructed with transparent roofs and walls. Read more in Dezeen: TRS Studio Envisions Shipping Containers As Affordable Housing In Peru

Footnotes

  1. Try: Idaho Company Mainstreams Tin Can Living, and
    “Housing Industry Fears ‘Meddling’ Giants? Fear Too, Meddling Midgets Like Alberta’s ARDN”

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.