Heikki Kääriäinen
Containers have been used in quake ravaged Christchurch in New Zealand on Cashel Street Mall. They look pretty unique and not an eyesore. Christchurch has lot of homeless and displaced people. This container idea would be a temporary solution until permanent houses and shops are built. Containers are reasonably earthquake proof.
MBadgero
Back in June, Gizmag ran this story: 'Mayor Bloomberg announces tiny housing design competition for NYC'. At 275 to 300 sq. ft., these were smaller than a 40 foot shipping container. I came up with a few designs myself, but didn't submit them because the company I work for does glazing, not general contracting.
I don't think there is any doubt that shipping containers could be used for housing. The questions are, how much will they cost to refurbish and refit, and what will the building codes be that are applied to them? Also, where would you put this type of housing?
Todd Dunning
Housing shortages are not caused by a lack of shipping containers. And neither is drug abuse. Housing shortages are caused by anti-development, anti-gentrification hippies who think shipping containers are much more cool, hip - and 'green'.
Imagine what the inside of those shipping containers will look like after 6 mos of occupancy by heroin addicts. Would any of the designers of this project care to share a container and raise a family?
Of course not. This is green feelgood posturing only... for hipsters to sketch out.. not to actually do.
It's not cool or politically correct to pick up homeless people and cure them so that they can be happy and productive, and no longer homeless. That'll never happen.
It is, however cool and politically correct to put them in shipping containers.
ivan4
I was under the impression that the Brighton project was based on the idea of the Amsterdam Keetwonen student housing project that opened in 2006 and has now had its life extended to at least 2016, which is not bad for the largest container housing project in the world.
flink
I think it's a great idea. The potential for rapidly shifting these containers to where they're needed is there, provided you're near a seaport or rail line. It'd be hell trucking enough of them in to do any good.
It is possible to design a pre-fab system that could slide into place inside the container and unfold to provide insulation and utilities. The issue is, as always, money and how do you pre-position them to do the most good?
Even with the obvious advantages such a system has, the idea brings to mind the darker scenes from William Gibson and Neal Stephenson novels.
Joel Detrow
Put them on golf courses!
Tom Collins
I SOOO agree with Joel ! Todd you obvious only THINK you know something about homelessness, yeah there's addicts there but I've met people that had degrees there as well, from EVERY walk of life do the homeless come !!! Don't look down upon them, offer a hand up as a good god fearin man should. I'm about to be homeless AGAIN and avg.$20-30/hr most of my life... things happen The labor to can be found in the homeless population itself, there are plenty of skilled workers there as well as folks that just want to help and are willing to help themselves up if just given the opportunity This is an excellent idea & most towns are very near the RR system.
Chris Coles
The very first example of this thinking was created by me to my own designs during the early 1970's. We called them Portable Housing Units and if my memory serves me the very first unit was shipped to France from our Southampton UK base; Drake & Coles Containers Limited which had been set up to repair freight containers and trailers. (Indeed, we became the largest repairers of Aluminium freight containers in the UK). I still have the excellent drawings of multiple units which were drawn for me by the late Laurie Dodd at his home studio location in the New Forest. Shortly thereafter, we were forced into bankruptcy by dock strikes; and at that time, no one was interested in developing new ideas like this. So there you go; when your Professor tries to sell this as new thinking; you can tell him/her, they are 40 years too late. :)
YouAre
1. It'd be nice if Mayor Bloomberg led by example: why didn't he swap his ultra-modest palace for this kind of exclusive hut? 2. The choice of a container ship as the article's main image is a bit awkward - any hint at homeless being shipped out for good?
Bob Fately
Seems to me Neal Stephenson was a bit prescient when he wrote Snow Crash!