Shipping containers were designed for stuff, not humans, and by the time architects finish adapting them for people there often isn’t much left of them. But they are cheap and plentiful, and architect Benjamin Garcia Saxe has managed to adapt a pair of 40’ containers so that humans can be very comfortable indeed.
It is economical too; the whole thing cost $ 40,000. The key move here is that he has cut out almost the entire side wall of the container, and set the two boxes far enough apart that the spaces are now appropriately scaled
He then uses the material cut out from the side to make the roof, Turning it into a clerestory window that brings in light and lets out hot air. He takes a pretty good chunk of the exterior walls out as well, replacing them with glazing. The result doesn’t feel like the inside of a shipping container at all.
Benjamin describes the process:
Very nicely done, and beautifully photographed as well.
But I do wonder why they painted the BIC code out of the container identification number. Is it like taking the plates off a car? On the brown box, the missing letters are FSCU.
