An oddball way to solve people's space problems

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by MikePT

Dien,

You have to see GORGEOUS homes made by shipping containers. Not only for offices.

Absolutely stunning ideas.

I believe pre-fabricated houses and shipping containers will be the future of housing. The prices are incredibly lower that brick and mortar houses.

I am dating the idea of pre-fabricated houses and shipping containers as my future house.

And the funny thing is easy to expand an home, simply buying more containers, like LEGO toys!

Mike

Hi Mike,

I've always been fascinated by the idea of pre-fab houses...

Whether from the "futuristic" Dymaxion house - a pre-fab house designed by futuristic designer Buckminster Fuller, who is probably most famous for the geodesic dome...



...to Japan's Nagakin Capsule Tower... which was designed so the "capsule" pre-fab apartments would be replaceable...



(I've read that, sadly, the Nagakin Capsule Tower could soon be torn down...)

Of course, you could create a whole (small) house - as opposed to just a room - from a shipping container, but it would be a lot of work! As you'd have to add plumbing (for the toilet, shower, etc.)...

But I think you're right! I think pre-fab houses will probably be the future of most housing...

I have a feeling that you're more advanced in this area in continental Europe than we are in the English-speaking countries...!

I also once saw a TV program about a couple building a "Passive House" (Passivhaus), I think in Germany... and I was impressed!

I think that's the way of the future, too...

(A "passive house" is extremely energy efficient, so your heating and cooling costs would be drastically reduced... The one I saw on TV even had an "energy exchange" between incoming and outgoing air, so that incoming air could be heated in winter, and cooled in summer, by "energy exchange" with the outgoing air!)

Thanks!

Best wishes,

Dien