Purposeful Design—Container-Based Homes to the Rescue

Design touches almost all aspects of our experience—from how something looks to how it feels. Interestingly, design also changes how we feel when we experience it.

Design in housing is no different. Housing may be one of the most pronounced manifestations of design that transforms us—whether the home is a timeless bungalow or a glass-enclosed modern apartment, we want to be part of something that is design forward.

Container-based homes meet our needs for design more than any other sustainable housing choice. Built from strength (complete steel structure), a container can have a completely customizable design. The outside ranges from pure steel to shaker shingles to just about anything in between. The footprint can stay at the original 320 square feet, or the containers can be stacked horizontally or vertically to create a complete blank canvas, ready to design according to how the resident wants to live.

Function

Maximizing utility is a dream of any engineer. Seeing space used to its fullest potential, just as you drew the schematic, is the pinnacle of function. However, to achieve pure function, you have to understand the experience the user wants. A perfectly planned lever that will never be pulled won’t meet anyone’s needs.

The function of the container home is its secret sauce. Everything one needs to live comfortably is placed efficiently within the structure. The ability to place the container homes in dozens of settings lends versatility no other housing solution rivals.

Innovation

The past is a bridge to the future. Waste is a bridge to reuse. A solid home is a bridge to a solid life.

The container can serve as a platform for iteration after iteration. Most containers are single use and are chopped up for scrap or landfills. Their solid steel platform has no other productive end-of-life use, but innovations and improvements to them can be made rapidly, making the container home the preferred replacement for modular or manufactured housing.

They give families a safe and sustainable home to build from without having to worry about the forces of nature or deteriorating conditions. The steel structure of the container home allows it to be wind rated at more than 130 miles per hour, providing safety to residents while allowing them to live how and where they desire.

Innovations allow residents to have a complete closed-loop home that is capable of powering itself from the sun and containing its own water and waste systems.

Innovation can also allow container homes to be fully connected so that remote learning and remote working is possible for their residents, despite geographic or social-economic barriers.

Need

There has never been a time like the present for alternative housing solutions. Population and demographic shifts, supply constraints, natural disasters, and an awareness of environmental impact are all leading people to rethink where and how they want to live. And once someone makes a decision about housing, they want it now—not 12 or 18 months in the future.

Nearly every community has affordable housing issues. In many, no sustainable or economically suitable homes are available. The container-based home fits these consumer demands perfectly. The homes not only can be customized but also can be built quickly and to the highest specifications. No forests need to be cut for timber, very little excavation is required, and container homes can be delivered ready to hook into utilities. These features speed up the ability to meet consumer needs with less environmental impact.

Desperation

Tornados strike down entire neighborhoods. Forest fires blaze through entire towns. Hurricanes flood entire counties. First responders drop their obligations and rush to help in the search and rescue, many from hundreds of miles away. The Red Cross brings water, blankets, and food. Corporations donate both human and monetary resources toward the efforts.

But everyone still needs a new roof to sleep under—the EMTs and firefighters, the volunteers, the state and federal workers, and most of all the individuals and families who lost all their worldly possessions, their safety, and their homes.

With container homes, design meets function meets innovation meets need meets desperation. They check all the boxes (no pun intended).

A single self-contained container home is ready to ship and can be hooked up within 24 hours when natural disaster or other needs arise unplanned.

Customizing the design and function of a container home to allow for two or three bedrooms means entire villages can be built that provide individual homes in a multifamily setting. These villages can be developed where traditional apartments can’t be built, especially in mountainous regions and on repurposed land that would not be suitable for foundation-based structures.

Keep in mind that cost and ROI are paramount when developing sustainable solutions. The container-based solution is affordable, and return on investment is relatively quick. Because they are fully customizable, container-based homes have a range of price points. For example, the rescue housing model can be constructed and delivered at $54,000. The more permanent homes can range from $60,000 to $100,000. The ROI on rescue housing can be less than three years. For permanent villages, ROI is roughly five years when combined with depreciation benefits.

Their design versatility and strength make container homes an ideal solution to meet both permanent and rescue housing.

To learn more about container-based homes in action, please visit: www.landbetterment.com.