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So an academic doesn't like reusing industrial machinery for living in. Does he also hate rowhomes? Tokyo apartments? College dorm rooms? A Manhattan studio? Th

So an academic doesn't like reusing industrial machinery for living in. Does he also hate rowhomes? Tokyo apartments? College dorm rooms? A Manhattan studio? There are many places in the world where you get a drab, rectangular living space, with less room than a shipping container, yet people are thankful for it. Shipping containers may be the answer to what I consider a plague on the average American: minimum-sized homes. You can't live in a tiny home in America, because all homes are regulated to be a minimum size, rooted to a concrete slab, with a bevy of other regulations. So you have to choose between throwing your money away on renting, or buying an overpriced, unnecessarily large home. A shipping container is small, incredibly strong, and unlikely to fly away under strong winds. They're also modular, which makes them adaptable. And they can be stacked, creating multiple floors without any extra engineering. You could easily expand your home's footprint whenever you could afford it! For people who just want affordable housing, they're kind of amazing. Who cares if they don't look pretty? Build a facade! We did it in the 1950's with formstone, when people thought brick looked cheap and ugly. Maybe the editor can slap some fake bricks on the outside of the container and call it retro-modern.

rumanator 7y ago
> So an academic doesn't like reusing industrial machinery for living in. Does he also hate rowhomes? Tokyo apartments? College dorm rooms? A Manhattan studio? This isn't an academic's whim. Shipping containers are not designed or adequate for residential use. This does not change if you enumerate other examples of awful living conditions.
- peterwwillis 7y ago
  Nothing about a shipping container is particularly inadequate for residential use. It's an empty box, exactly like the empty shell of a stick-built American house. You wouldn't live inside a stick frame house just because it has four sides, you have to keep building onto and into it until it's done.
  - blacksmith_tb 7y ago
    Exactly like, except for the lack of windows and insulation? Obviously those can be added, but it takes a plasma torch, not a hammer and a saw, unlike traditional building materials.
    - saalweachter 7y ago
      Also, shipping containers have a lot in common with soda cans: they have been engineered to have adequate physical characteristics within the very constrained parameters they are expected to operate under, and once they are outside that box, well, they're as fragile as soda cans. For instance, if you try to stack your shipping containers any way but "directly square on top of each other, bordered by other shipping containers", you need to start over from scratch. All of those fancy stacks with one container crossing or bridging another come with lots of additional structural engineering to create the impression of whimsy. Or if you cut a big hole in one side of a shipping container to create a nice big picture window, whoops, you've destroyed the integrity of the container. Or you try to stack too much weight in the center of the top of the container, and no, that doesn't work either because the weight is supposed to be transmitted through the corners and sides.
    - Turing_Machine 7y ago
      You don't need a plasma cutter. If you're patient and noise-tolerant, an angle grinder, reciprocating saw, or even a circular saw (with proper blades) will do the job. If you do want to use a plasma cutter (which I admit would be a more pleasant way of doing the job), you can rent a good one for a couple of hundred bucks a week, or buy a crap one at Lowes or Home Depot for $200-300.
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
    - mcantelon 7y ago
      You can both insulate shipping containers and cut windows into them.
c22 7y ago
> And they can be stacked, creating multiple floors without any extra engineering. Unless you want windows, or a staircase between your floors... Now you're cutting holes in the thing and you've lost your stackability guarantee. Better call the engineer after all.
pbalau 7y ago
You are missing the fact that shipping containers are built for shipping and are reusable. They are not things that we have a surplus of and are abandoned, with no use. If you want to use a container that is not adequate for shipping to live in, you are crazy. If you take a good one out of the shipping pool, this means a brand new one will be built as replacement. At no point in a shipping container life it is good for the environment. Arguing that shipping containers are the solution for the housing problem is like arguing frozen steaks are the best way to get a patient temperature down.

rumanator 7y ago

> So an academic doesn't like reusing industrial machinery for living in. Does he also hate rowhomes? Tokyo apartments? College dorm rooms? A Manhattan studio? This isn't an academic's whim. Shipping containers are not designed or adequate for residential use. This does not change if you enumerate other examples of awful living conditions.

peterwwillis 7y ago
Nothing about a shipping container is particularly inadequate for residential use. It's an empty box, exactly like the empty shell of a stick-built American house. You wouldn't live inside a stick frame house just because it has four sides, you have to keep building onto and into it until it's done.
- blacksmith_tb 7y ago
  Exactly like, except for the lack of windows and insulation? Obviously those can be added, but it takes a plasma torch, not a hammer and a saw, unlike traditional building materials.
  - saalweachter 7y ago
    Also, shipping containers have a lot in common with soda cans: they have been engineered to have adequate physical characteristics within the very constrained parameters they are expected to operate under, and once they are outside that box, well, they're as fragile as soda cans. For instance, if you try to stack your shipping containers any way but "directly square on top of each other, bordered by other shipping containers", you need to start over from scratch. All of those fancy stacks with one container crossing or bridging another come with lots of additional structural engineering to create the impression of whimsy. Or if you cut a big hole in one side of a shipping container to create a nice big picture window, whoops, you've destroyed the integrity of the container. Or you try to stack too much weight in the center of the top of the container, and no, that doesn't work either because the weight is supposed to be transmitted through the corners and sides.
  - Turing_Machine 7y ago
    You don't need a plasma cutter. If you're patient and noise-tolerant, an angle grinder, reciprocating saw, or even a circular saw (with proper blades) will do the job. If you do want to use a plasma cutter (which I admit would be a more pleasant way of doing the job), you can rent a good one for a couple of hundred bucks a week, or buy a crap one at Lowes or Home Depot for $200-300.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - mcantelon 7y ago
    You can both insulate shipping containers and cut windows into them.

c22 7y ago

> And they can be stacked, creating multiple floors without any extra engineering. Unless you want windows, or a staircase between your floors... Now you're cutting holes in the thing and you've lost your stackability guarantee. Better call the engineer after all.

pbalau 7y ago

You are missing the fact that shipping containers are built for shipping and are reusable. They are not things that we have a surplus of and are abandoned, with no use. If you want to use a container that is not adequate for shipping to live in, you are crazy. If you take a good one out of the shipping pool, this means a brand new one will be built as replacement. At no point in a shipping container life it is good for the environment. Arguing that shipping containers are the solution for the housing problem is like arguing frozen steaks are the best way to get a patient temperature down.