Architecture

Shipping container hotel raises the roof for light and air

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The Geneseo Inn's roofs have been prepared ready for solar panels and greenery to be installed at a future date
Paul Vu Photography
The Geneseo Inn is situated among 145 acres (58 hectares) of rolling vineyards in central California
Paul Vu Photography
The Geneseo Inn is now open, with standard rooms starting at US$325 per night
Paul Vu Photography
The Geneseo Inn's container-based rooms are raised above the ground, creating a shaded parking space below
Paul Vu Photography
The Geneseo Inn consists of a total of 20 recycled shipping containers
Paul Vu Photography
The Geneseo Inn's shipping containers have clearly been heavily modified and look quite spacious and light-filled inside
Paul Vu Photography
The Geneseo Inn's shipping container hotel rooms feature a deck area at the front and the rear
Paul Vu Photography
The Geneseo Inn's interiors include a bathroom, living area, and a bedroom
Paul Vu Photography
The Geneseo Inn's bathroom has a shower, sink, and toilet
Paul Vu Photography
The Geneseo Inn's central "clerestory" is designed to add more space, light, and ventilation
Paul Vu Photography
The Geneseo Inn's interior and exterior design incorporates recycled materials, including barn wood from a winery
Paul Vu Photography
The Geneseo Inn's roofs have been prepared ready for solar panels and greenery to be installed at a future date
Paul Vu Photography
View gallery - 11 images

A total of 20 recycled shipping containers have been used to create a hotel and office building situated in a winery among 145 acres (58 hectares) of rolling vineyards in California. The container-based hotel rooms feature an unusual design centered around a raised roof area that's meant to improve space, ventilation, and light inside.

The project is named Geneseo Inn and was created by Echotech Design, in collaboration with fabricator Crate Modular, plus the owners of the winery it's located in, Steve Cass and Ted Plemons.

It has seven standard hotel rooms, each of which is made from two 20-ft (6-m)-long shipping containers joined to a 12-ft (3.6-m)-tall "cathedral ceiling" structure at the center that serves as an entrance.

"The buildings are raised dramatically above the vineyard on multiple steel piloti to create a covered parking area underneath, and enhance views over the surrounding wine country," explains Ecotech Design. "A 12-ft (3.6-m)-high 'cathedral ceiling' clerestory with multiple, operable windows enhances natural ventilation and daylighting to conserve energy and support healthier interiors. In addition, the clerestory elevates the ceiling in order to visually open up the lower, adjacent container spaces."

The Geneseo Inn's interior and exterior design incorporates recycled materials, including barn wood from a winery
Paul Vu Photography

The interior of each hotel room includes a bedroom area, living area, and a bathroom, as well as a small deck at the front and another at the rear. Additionally, the project features one larger hotel suite consisting of a 40-ft (12-m) container and a 20-ft container, while an office made up from four 20-ft containers is also nearby.

The colors of the buildings match the wine labels used at the winery and other materials used include locally-sourced recycled Corten steel, glass, cement board, and recycled decking. Recycled wood from the winery and assorted agricultural structures was also used to create the ceiling and floor. The roofs of the containers are designed to accept solar power and greenery at a future date and the containers also sport insulation to mitigate their poor thermal performance – always a major concern with these shipping container-based projects.

The Geneseo Inn is now open for bookings, with standard rooms starting at US$325 per night.

Source: Ecotech Design

View gallery - 11 images
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3 comments
FB36
IMHO, what is called "Shipping Container Architecture" is the real/true solution of all cheap/affordable housing problems everywhere in the world!
What especially needs to be done is, creating a standard (& free!) (giant) building (metal skeleton) structure design,
that provides slots for standard shipping container housing units!
(Housing units need to be easy to replace (in their slots) anytime!)
(& it would best, if it is an extendable design (like LEGO) allowing buildings of almost any size!)
Username
I'm at the opposite end from FB36. It seems to me that all these shipping container buildings are so highly modified that it would be cheaper to build from scratch.
Wombat56
I'm sort of with Username on this one. At the least I'd really like to see a detailed discussion of the relative economics of using modified recycled containers vs new build structures. I can see possibilities of using shipping containers for minimally modified, temporary accommodations such as jail cells, emergency housing etc.