
The Sinister Brutalism of Shipping Container Architecture - zem
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/14/opinion/shipping-container-homes.html
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babesh
I have been following a youtube couple building a shipping container home. It
isn't as simple or cheap as you think. You need to deal with rust, sealing
floors that have chemicals, cutting out windows, etc... I wonder if they can
do that only because they live somewhere with no building regulations.

In contrast to that, our local school additions were a snap. They were prefabs
that just needed to be dropped onto slabs.

I think there is a definite hipster trendiness to some uses of containers.
It's the typical hype, trough cycle where it's being used in novel ways but
also not so good effective ways in other cases.

[https://youtu.be/i8qtI15Ntws](https://youtu.be/i8qtI15Ntws)

~~~
dsfyu404ed
>It isn't as simple or cheap as you think. You need to deal with rust, sealing
floors that have chemicals, cutting out windows, etc...

And once you're done with that you run into humidity and ventilation issues.
There's a reason people generally only use them for storage containers. If you
want a building you can occupy there's cheaper and easier ways to do it.

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im3w1l
What would be cheaper and easier?

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saalweachter
Prefab, modular housing.

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olefoo
Headline should have been "The sinister brutalism of shipping container
architecture". I mean come on. Know your audience.

~~~
dang
Agreed. Belatedly changed.

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TheRealSteel
I didn't even realise it was going to be about Edinburgh or Fringe when I read
the title, but the first thing that came to mind was the hostel there charging
up to 25£ per night to sleep in a shipping container. I just arrived here but
don't think I could've handled it when the weather wasn't perfect, especially
at 45AUD per night.

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kiba
OK, maybe shipping containers aren't exactly the modular cheap things we can
transform into living spaces...but to imagine it creating a dystopia?

~~~
Jagat
There's a video series of a guy who tried to do this in California in the
middle of a desert and his cost went north of $100k. (Paperwork alone was $25k
IIRC).

Watching that series reminds you of what a huge bureaucratic nightmare looks
like.

Search for "Modern home project" on YouTube.

~~~
sixdimensional
I almost started a tiny home business. However, during market research, I
discovered the biggest problem with tiny homes is zoning laws. That really
threw a monkey wrench into my plans.

Have been considering what it would take to get zoning laws preventing tiny
homes changed in less popular locales.

~~~
mjevans
You'd probably have better luck subverting existing regulatory infrastructure
that closely matches your use-case.

Instead of tiny homes, try thinking within the regulatory box of "classifies
as an RV or towed camper". That might allow you to bypass some of the other
limitations you were facing.

~~~
PorterDuff
Exactly. There was a Kirsten Dirksen video showing some cabins built on a
piece of property that was zoned (I think) for mobile homes. Voila', they
welded some big wheels on the bottom of the structures.

They still seemed poorly laid out with crummy bathrooms (in this case, no
piped water and a terlet that was basically an indoor plastic porta-potty) but
I did admire the law-skirting.

There can also be avoidance of property taxes in some states I believe.

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EdwardDiego
Christchurch utilised shipping containers for rockfall/ruin collapse
protection, (and with modifications of course) temporary offices and
accommodation after the 2011 earthquake.

They really filled a gap.

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twic
I'm glad to see the Freitag store mentioned - that really is quite fun:

[https://www.freitag.ch/en/store/freitag-flagship-store-
zueri...](https://www.freitag.ch/en/store/freitag-flagship-store-zuerich)

[https://www.zuerich.com/en/visit/attractions/freitag-
tower](https://www.zuerich.com/en/visit/attractions/freitag-tower)

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simplecomplex
The Sinister Brutality of New York Times Articles on Hacker News

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magwa101
Watched a youtube video of a very capable builder creating a container "home"
in Yucca Valley. Total joke.

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joeyrideout
Was I the only one who nodded in agreement thinking about Docker orchestration
woes when reading the title? >:)

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qroshan
Shipping, Container and Architecture are all prominent Software terminology.

In fact, any HN reader who didn't think that should be perma banned ;)

~~~
quickthrower2
and Brutalist design!

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peterwwillis
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
> 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
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
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.

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mcantelon
You can both insulate shipping containers and cut windows into them.

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rumanator
> You can both insulate shipping containers and cut windows into them.

You can do that to anything, even cardboard boxes taken out of the dumpster.
That doesn't mean they are adequate living spaces.

