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So Called "Container Houses"
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Next week I am going to be making a visit to a container maker/modifier in Tampa Florida, a division of TAW who creates specialty shelters based on the ISO standards for inter-modal transport, otherwise known commonly as shipping containers. You have to realize that there is a whole industry revolving around this, and its not run of the mill shipping containers that they are daily involved with. The military and other entities routinely deploy any variety of field shelters which get to where they are going by the usual channels of shipping cargo, and hence they conform to the standards set for handling shipping containers for dimensions, so they work with the universal stacking, and for strength, so that they can be handled in the usual manner. But aside from these concerns for "standards" their usual product could be something as sophisticated as an electronic field control center or as simple as a bunk room. So their routine business is fabricating inter-modal shelters for these varied purposes. But they also have a strong interest in seeing their business expand into day to day dwellings. Here is where the interests converge - there is a large group of modernists who are interested in using containers to create cool modern houses.
So we are meeting next week, for two reasons. First because I want to see first hand the work they do with these inter-modal shelters. Second because we want to talk about the big picture - how do we take this notion of building a house with containers out of this realm of fringe ideas, and set it on a course to being a mainstream option. We want container homes to "grow up."
Part of this is going to be establishing a common terminology. I have been talking to David Cross of TAW about this. Readers of Fabprefab will know David from his postings over there. The ideas I am going to pitch here are based on my talks with David and terms he has introduced.
Right now there is no way to talk about this except to say you are building a house of "shipping containers" which I can tell you first hand is not going to engender you to anybody. I witnessed a planning board vote to define a shipping container as a trailer in order to enable them to reject it as trailers were not allowed. Never mind that the object in question has no axles, wheels, or tires. We need to begin at a point which does not contain the prejudices built up from images of rusting hulks of shipping containers piled on top of freight vessels.
Generically what we are talking about is a modus of modular construction that uses heavy gauge steel, rather than the wood stick framing that is common in residential construction. Wow - why build something as light as a house with heavy gauge steel? There are very good reasons. Heavy gauge steel construction makes the modules immensely strong. The continuous wall footings that common houses require in order to prevent them from collapsing under their own weight are not necessary - heavy gauge steel modules can support themselves while spanning between supports at their four corners. In fact, to place them on continuous support is almost a squandering of their inherent strength, a waste of resources. But isn't it going to be expensive to overbuild like this, to make a house with such a strong structure? The answer is no. The resources are plentiful and cheap, and a sustainable factor of building with these is the fact that it represents a direct recycling of an otherwise neglected resource. That's because the raw materials for these houses are the cheap, pre-used ISO shipping containers accumulating in our ports thanks to our long standing trade imbalance.
So this is the foundation of this movement. The term is Heavy Gauge Modular construction, or HGM. I recommend you make this part of your vocabulary and start using it now if you ever want to see a "container home" in your future. Also, its time to start putting quotes around "container home", in your writing and your speech. Whenever you need to describe this to somebody make sure you always proceed the term with a phrase like "so called" or follow it with a phrase like "in concept". You get it - time to marginalize that term.
Now the next step in this is to talk about some specific characteristics of these Heavy Gauge Modules - HGMs. The modular industry is not standardized. Any readers of LiveModern and Fabprefab know that modules come in different widths depending on the factory space that builds them, the states that they will be moving through, the access to the site, and the special permits they require to transport. Sure we can build HGMs like this, and we will face the same restrictions to the market that the current Modular industry faces. Unh - Unh, no way, who needs that. We want a module that we can take anywhere, on almost any road, using standard trucks and trailers, no special permits required. While we're at it, lets make it possible to load it on a freight train, how about a cargo ship, lets make it work with the largest material handling infrastructure in the world. Lets make an HGM that conforms to the ISO standards for inter-modal transport. Lets call this HGM an Inter-modal Building Unit, or IBU.
Again, I advise you to adopt this language immediately. Today is the day we cross the threshold. Yesterday is the day of "container houses", Tomorrow is the day of HGM/IBU construction.
So now we are not talking about so called "container houses". We are talking about a new modular building method consisting of Heavy Gauge Modular construction utilizing Inter-modal Building Units. Coming to a planning board in your town. Soon.
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we need to move this forward
Of all the modern prefab premises that are happening right now, IBUs has been making the slowest progress. The know-how to handle, source, and modify the ISO containers has been a big missing part. TAW and David Cross has stepped up and said "I'm willing to help make this happen". We really need to seize this. I just want to give it some focus and have it understood as a viable approach.
All we need is money
I work at the University of North Texas in Denton. Everyday, I pass several vacant lots and starting last week, there was a wreck of a house put up for sale or lease (about 700 sq. ft.). This lot is three blocks from the University and 4 blocks from about a dozen Sorority/Fraternity houses. I cannot think of a better use of HGMs then to create college rental housing. Where else are you going to find people with so little interest in fine finishes and so much interest in living in something different than everyone else? I do not have the resources to fund such a project, but I do know that eamesdaedelus has the perfect design for such a house.
Speaking of resources, even if you have 20% to put down, how the heck do you get a bank to lend you money for houses built this way? This movement needs some venture capital.
student housing - great idea
Great idea Jeff. I'm back from my meeting in Tampa and one of the things we discussed was what is the viable market for these first houses. Who is willing to live in a really unconventional home. One of the obvious answers is weekend houses - beach houses, or weekend cabins. But rented student housing is a brilliant idea. First of all students would certainly embrace it just as you suggest, and often the neighborhoods where student tend to live are inexpensive which would make the likely hood of finding an affordable plot much better. How can we float this idea?
Time to brainstorm
The student housing idea came to me when I was looking at Mark's design and I noticed that anything larger than a twin bed wouldn't work unless folks would be willing to crawl into bed from the foot. College students could put up with that, or would use a twin. I know these things can be arranged/cut-up to create larger spaces (e.g. the "junk-yard" house featured in Dwell a while back), but that adds cost.
Some ideas (not mutually exclusive): 1) get a grant from some some foundation interested in "environmentally-friendly constuction" and sell it on eco-friendliness (little concrete, HGMs are sitting all over the place) 2) get a grant from some foundation interested in "affordable-housing". 3) get a grant from some artistic foundation interested in affordable modern. 4) create the "LiveModernHouse", "Fab-Pre-Fab-House" or "LiveMod-Pre-Fab-House" and use these organizations not for their money, but to generate credibility to go out and ask other sponsers for money.
I am guessing we could find a lot in Denton for $30,000-$60,000. I am willing to donate time. If we could get some free design services (wink-wink, nudge-nudge), I bet the house could be built for $60/sq.ft. With two 40x8 and a 16'x24' living space in between (requiring only roof structure and two walls), we have 1024 sq.ft. My bet is $100k-$150k is the amount of capital needed. I know it would rent for at least $900/month ($10,800 per year) and the interest payments plus insurance and taxes (6% on $125k) would be about $10,000 per year. I think it would have to come in under $125,000 to be profitable.
As you may be able to tell, I have been thinking about this for a while.
rental houses vs student housing
I was talking to David Cross about the student housing idea today - he has been reading this. Two strategies emerged and I wanted to see Jeff what you were thinking.
The first is essentially a small home of say 3 bedrooms that would be rented by students, and potentially could also house a small family.
The second is a multifamily dwelling - except the individual units would be very small single occupancy flats - essentially a building of efficiency apartments.
It would depend on the zoning as to which you could build on a given site but both seem like reasonable strategies.
What AM I thinking?
With our current house project in a state of limbo, I am sure I cannot take this on myself right now. Moreover, I do not have the resources to fund such a project, even with my confidence in its success. All that being said, it just seems to me that a house with three bedrooms, one bath, one small kitchen, and mechanical all housed in two 40' containers set up with a large living area in between would be just the type of structure that would appeal to college students. As for its use for a family, I think if a married couple is going to share a 12'x7'6" bedroom with little closet space, the thing is going to have to be really cheap. As for the multi-unit option, I think it would work great if you could get a bedroom, bath, and kitchen into one 40' HGM and then docked a stack of three to a structure with three small living/dining areas and a staircase.
This summer, I would be willing to work with someone to put together a grant application for such a project. Obviously, we would first have to try to find people who give out money who might be interested in such a project. If such an organization could be found, I could put together an application to argue for the project (as a use for HGMs that are piling up all over the US or to provide affordable housing). The application would require someone who could outline how an HGM can be turned into housing (I am an economist, not an architect or builder, after all). I think it would be necessary to work out the insulation and structural issues ahead of time. We might have to be at the point where all we need is the money to buy a lot ans build the thing. I know that since my skills are limited, my contribution would be limited to administrative and organizational. This summer I can start work on looking into funding and see what the possibilities are. Until we find that getting funding might be an option, I am not sure there is much use in designing the thing past the point of being convinced that such a house is feasible.
HGM/IBU (So Called "Container Houses"
An HGM/IBU would be perfect for my 45 acre flat land ranch in California's Central Valley. The LiveModern glidehouse 4 bed room courtyard plan is what I've decided on. Now I need it configured into a slightly peaked roof (with attic). No flat roofs for me!
rhusbands
clapclapclap
Greg, thanks for stating things so eloquently. I really hope this takes off, and though I'm not an architect, I'm completely on board with adopting this terminology. Now all we need are great designs that utilize these IBU's so I can illustrate how these are not your typical modular homes...