Given the state of the economy and those in charge who seem to be oblivious to the destruction they're wreaking economically, I could see the missus and I living in one of these Container Guest Houses upon retirement (or sooner):
A bonus is that I'd be making Al Gore happy:
This project originated from Poteet Architects’s client’s wish to experiment with shipping containers. She lives in a small warehouse on a former industrial site just south of downtown. The finished project serves as a guesthouse and is fitted with a shower/WC and a custom stainless sink. The large steel and glass lift/slide and end window wall open the interior to the surrounding landscape. The remainder of the interior is used as a garden shed.
...
The emphasis was on sustainable strategies– first, the recycling of a “one-way” container for a new and permanent use. The planted roof is held off the container top, providing shade and air-flow to reduce heat gain. The interior is insulated with spray foam then lined with bamboo plywood, equally appropriate for the floor as the walls. The grey water from the sink and shower is captured for roof irrigation. The WC is a composting toilet. The rear of the container is screened by wire mesh panels which will eventually be covered in evergreen vines.
Other innovative material choices informed the design: the container “floats” on a foundation of recycled telephone poles. The deck is made up of HVAC equipment pads (made of recycled soda bottles) set in a steel frame. The exterior light fixtures are blades from a tractor disc plow—a common sight in south Texas.
Crossposted at Wizbang.
When the world's largest consumer (USA) society is relegated to third world status, then all those shipping containers will go for want.
So we might as well turn them into 'affordable housing' for the new generations of peons soon to inhabit these shores.
Just sayin....
Posted by: Locutisprime | Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 10:52 AM
And the car parked in the driveway is what, a 1965 Chrysler with a gas guzzling, massive carbon spewing, pre-strict admissions standards, 8 cylinder behemoth that gets maybe 6 miles per gallon on the highway? Doh!!!
Hey look, I actually think some of what’s in the article is pretty cool…for a hunting cabin/survival lodge in the middle of the wilderness. And to each his own, do whatever you want, drink your own urine for all I care, but don’t be so pretentious and hypocritical about it all.
If the world is truly gonn’a end in four years (according to Al Gore’s 2006 prediction) because of Global Warming/Climate Change/Global Cooling/Capitalism is Bad, fine, go live “off the grid”, use a bike, recycle your feces, etc., show us all how it’s done. Just stop telling us how bad everything is and continue to live just like the rest of us evil folks.
Posted by: tim aka The Godless Heathen | Monday, April 18, 2011 at 12:27 PM