At present, within the architectural world, the construction of prefabricated houses has begun to be developed with the use of folding container house or containers, making housing an economically accessible environment to build but also offering a way to recycle within the construction world.
The so-called maritime or logistics container is a standardized cargo glass container mainly intended for ocean transport of all kinds of bulky or heavy objects: engines, machinery, or merchandise packaged using pallets. They were designed in the 1950s to facilitate the transport of goods over long distances.
Folding container house are mainly made of steel or aluminum, many of them reinforced with plywood or fiberglass to prevent moisture during transit. They all have the same dimensions to facilitate their handling, with the possibility of stacking them on top of each other forming huge colored blocks, which can be seen in most seaports around the world.
The reuse of containers to create prefabricated houses is an architectural trend called “foldable container house “, increasingly used in the design of houses, schools, offices, etc.
The surplus of these old containers that accumulate in ports is a very serious environmental problem. It is estimated that there are more than 300 million empty containers in ports around the world.
Well, then something has to be done with them, and the architects have not missed this opportunity. Here is a list of advantages of using a container to build your own home, creating low-cost environments:
- Use of space: With almost 30 square meters inside, a single container could be enough space for a small family to live.
- Portability: The containers are designed to be easy to transport, which makes them ideal for moving them at any time.
- Cheap: They are cheap, precisely because the containers are reused. This reduces labor and time for installation and retrofitting. Without counting on the saving in brick and cement of traditional architectures.
- Robust and Durable: Resistance is one of the characteristics of the containers, since they were built to withstand the marine climate, and the blows and movements that arise from their transport by ship.
- Sustainable: The use of recycled containers drastically reduces manufacturing materials, with significant savings in energy and CO2 emissions into the atmosphere. In addition, unlike other systems of modular architecture, it does not require practically any maintenance, since the maritime containers are initially designed to last for many years and are manufactured with an insulating layer that, properly treated, can be totally suitable for the use of a home, saving energy in heating and/or cooling.
Well, if you are at that moment when you want to take the leap and build your own house, seriously consider the use of containers to start making your own home. Due to its great benefits, not only will its construction be simple, but it will also be profitable in the future and easy to maintain and make repairs if required.
