Inhabitat

[...] … it means moving into some very hip and well-designed dorm accommodations. Keetwonen, a student housing project in Amsterdam, turns shipping containers into 1000 units and provides all the amenities a student could ever want. … by Emily at 4:17 PM [...]

i think its a great idea. and i bet they are easy to build and are structurally safe because they are designed to carry tons of weight across the seas so i think they can support a student and his futon.

[...] my roundup of this week’s Inhabitat picks, here is another interesting example for sustainable housing: using surplus shipping containers to convert them into student accommodation. Keetwonen is a [...]

Absolutely Brilliant ! Now where would this stacked TEMPORARY apartment complex design work in the USA ? Maybe someplace on the Gulf Coast whose name starts with an ‘N’ ? “New..’ something ?(The last name starts with an ‘O’ ) FEMA Wake up !

…Totally agree Richie, seems a bit of a no-brainer to me…

Richie has the right idea – but why just the USA? Disasters in third-world countries are often much worse and less well responded to. A German company had the idea of using giant airships to transport modular hospitals and the like, as the problem is often the logistics of getting resources to disaster locations. Unfortunately, the company went broke and their giant production facility is now an indoor tropical resort. Can’t governments get this idea up and running again? It does have serious commercial applications as well.

so now according Ian we shall be shipping surplus conainers to third world countries to help them, great could you also send some of your waste along as they also suffer from food shortage….
i mean where do u people get these impressions of the 3rd world from, i hope it is not your news channels or hollywood i hope…stop patronising and you can keep the containers where they are, thank you.
it always amazes me that every american who comes to india thinks that they have “solutions” to complex economic and social conditions…. i cannot imagine a similar condition where a student from the so called third world would come and start advising the natives as to what they should do to improve their cities..

sau – hey no problem, you don’t want to collaborate and work together to come up with solutions, then fine, we won’t send any aid then. Ian just made a suggestion, instead of getting all resentful you could pilotely suggest something else. The worlds problems won’t be solved by international bickering and puffed up nationalistic spitting contests.

[...] Lo hemos encontrado en Inhabitat [...]

Hehe, I was living next door to one of these housing complexes in Holland, and knew a lot of the students who were living inside the so-called ‘living containers’.
They hated it! It might be a cute idea, but the reality of living inside a box is not as pleasant.
The bathroom is so cramped that you have to stand half over your toilet in order to take a shower. One student had a box above the laundry room, and if more than two machines were running at once it vibrated the whole time!

In Delft when they introduced some of these ‘living containers’ for international students, most of the students were so outraged to be put in a box that the housing organisation had to refund their money and find alternative accomodation for them.

mad- I was wondering about all that…I knew living in a steel shipping crate couldn’t be as much fun as this write up would like us to think it is.

Soy de Argentina, aca el deficit de habitabilidad y de relacion sueldo-vivir es alarmante. En la universidad de Buenos Aires todos los niveles de talleres se ocupan de tratar ese tema y encontrar soluciones dentro del diseño, entendiendo la problematica sociocultural presente.
Poniendome en lugar de este ejemplo, creo que en mi pais simplemente no funcionaria. Es mas, estoy casi seguro que eso no responde a una arquitectura genuina. La relacion de arquitectura y orientacion aca no existe. Eso da algo alarmante a lo que es uso de energias.

Distinto es un prototipo Kaufman–Kaufman.

Usado como espacio para estudiar o como oficinas, en mi caso, no me gustaria estudiar o trabajar en un lugar asi. Tal vez es tiempo de entender que los legos son un juego de niños… no de arquitectos.

Take a look at zigloo.ca

a prime example of what could be done if planned right with some shipping containers.

This article here is a great start to something bigger and better. Personally, it would be a great starting point to some disaster relief situations. Use the containers to ship relief items, then use the container itself as a starting block to new housing.

If you look on zigloo.ca, you’ll see, it a great starting point for a house that then gets finished off quite nicely. repainted exterior gives it a new clean look and it retains the neat feature of corrugated steel.

With that said, I hate all the negative people who feel a need to be negative for no other reason then the fact that they ARE negative. Instead of bashing an idea, why not try to find solutions to the problems so that it can become an ever better, more effective, more appealing, more cost efficient, and possibly even more environmentally friendly. Negative people suck.

I find this idea is brilliant!!
I saw some negative comments about the project, and i would probably tell them that these type of housing is not for hollywood stars or for someone who never been in need of housing when they can not even afford corner of apartment.
I understand that there gotta be building standards and requirements which suppose to be checked by health department and architectures or that mets the city code.
I studied 7 years to get my BA and MA Degree in my home town and in foreign country, biggest headache i always had was my rent money not my academic results. For students, rent is high everywhere in Mongolia or even in USA except in some ghetto areas of course.
Now i work for university in Mongolia as Director of International Relationship and Cooperation.
Need of Student Housing is getting truly urgent and serious in year to year in Mongolia. Especially for ones, who are from most vulnerable families and who are from suburbs. And i was browsing internet for ideas like this for my STUDENT HOUSING PROJECT. And i was really surprised.

I love this project and idea.
Is someone out there who can give me more information about this project or any other ideas?
I would really really appreciate it neither do my students

@: kkhangal@yahoo.com

the containers are currently reused but can easily be recycled, they are steel so the meltdown process is very simple and they can be turned into any metal source. currently in the united states we have acres and acres of container storage since we import more than we export. so it is not a consumption issue it is using what is already there which i thought that was the idea, obviously people have not educated themselves enough before they began cutting it down i have been in construction for 12 years and began green building 2 years ago green as in not taking anything else from the earth. i think it is an amazing idea it produces housing and commercial use without consuming more of mother earth.

@ Mad

I guess you are mixing up these shipping containers with other prefab student housing complexes in the Netherlands. The Keetwonen units in Amsterdam have a bathroom in which you definitely don’t have to lean over your toilet while taking a shower. Also there are no vibrating problems at all (there is no laundry machine within them; the complex has a Laundrette).

Furthermore, if all students are really unhappy with their home; why would there be a waiting list to get a room of appr. 2 years??

I (still) think it’s a brilliant and sustainable idea/solution!

Great stuff here!
Containers / Modular / prefab homes will offer solutions to the world’s housing shortage for the deprived, under-privileged and low income populations in society by providing a total system for basic, low-cost, quality built housing. The modular housing constructed with sandwich panels is the lowest in cost, most rapidly erected, simplest in design, and most structurally sound basic housing in existence today. Plus, you can ship 21 houses in a 40 foot container made from insulated panels..

Great stuff here!
Containers / modular / prefab homes will offer solutions to the world’s housing shortage for the deprived, under-privileged and low income populations in society by providing a total system for basic, low-cost, quality built housing. The modular housing constructed with sandwich panels is the lowest in cost, most rapidly erected, simplest in design, and most structurally sound basic housing in existence today. Plus, you can ship 21 houses in a 40 foot container.