More Shipping Containers!!!!!!

Breathtaking Shipping Container Studio in San Antonio

We’re green with envy over this beautiful shipping container studio in San Antonio designed by Texas architect Jim Poteet. Painted a deep blue, the 40′ shipping container was transformed into a gorgeous backyard retreat, complete with a living green roof, composting toilet, rainwater collection and eco friendly finishes. The studio retreat also features floor-to-ceiling windows cut out of the container, blown-in insulation, and bamboo floors and walls. Dwell has the full scoop on the container as well as a ton of gorgeous pictures.

Fun PreFab Gym Built from Containers in Just Three Days!

by Andrew Michler

The students of the Dunraven School located in South London are enjoying a huge new prefab gym that took only three days to erect! Designed by architecture firm Scabal as the world’s first gym of its kind, the team of designers carefully chose materials that would provide for a fun and bright environment for the school children to enjoy. And best of all, the school reduced overall costs by a third opting to go prefab over a traditional facility built-on-site. But don’t think being budget conscious came at a cost to the overall program — this dynamic eco-friendly design easily provides for twice the engagement.

The bright building uses a wall of containers to hold changing rooms, storage and offices, while at the core of the box arrangement is a spacious gym floor for the kids to get some serious physical education done. While a stacked arrangement of containers could give way to a behemoth of a building, by using four primary colors, lots of light, and fun details like zigzag cutouts for observation deck, Sacbel easily broke the mass down to a more manageable level that also inspires fun.

The 8,200 square meter building uses a number of green materials, including reused shipping containers and walls of translucent polycarbonate (what is used in green houses) to allow light to pour into the space. The school has a tradition of green building, and the gym is no different, even employing a  rainwater collection system for the campus-wide reclaimed water system.

Recycled Dumpster Pools Unveiled in NYC this Weekend!

by Ariel Schwartz

Would you ever go dumpster diving? A whole lot of New York City residents did this weekend, as the city unveiled three unused dumpsters converted into small swimming pools as part of the third annual Summer Streets festival! The dumpster pools were laid out on Park Avenue this weekend for approximately 450 eager swimmers to enjoy.

 

Designed by Macro-Sea, each 50,000-pound pool features a layer of felt below 4,600 pounds of chlorinated water. The 8-by-22 pools are slightly on the small side — they only fit 10 people at a time and aren’t deep enough for diving — but they’re good for soaking.
We’d love to see more of these pop-up pools in places that don’t have the space or cash for full-sized versions. Because sometimes it’s just so hot that you’ll swim anywhere — even in a dumpster.

 

 

Nanotechnology Makes Poop Power 20 Times More Efficient

by Cameron Scott

Engineers at Oregon State University have their minds in the gutter. They’re working on getting more energy from sewage, and they’ve made a discovery that boosts electricity production substantially. By applying a nanoparticle coating to the anodes in fuel cells that turn crap into currents, they increased production nearly 20-fold.

  

It may be strange to think of poop as the holy grail of anything, but poop power is a coveted form of renewable energy because it eliminates waste — which we don’t want — while producing electricity, which we do. In industrialized countries, poo power production could bring down the cost of wastewater treatment, while in developing nations, it may make it possible to treat wastewater for the first time by providing the electricity to do it. Indeed, sewage treatment systems of the future could be self-sufficient in their energy use.

In this particular potty-to-plug technology, bacteria from the sewage are placed in an anode chamber, where they consume nutrients and grow while, in the process, releasing electrons. The researchers put a nanoparticle coating on the graphite anodes – one bit of bad news: the coating was gold. Talk about flushing good money down the toilet! However, iron may work nearly as well, at least for certain kinds of bacteria.
Interesting note: OSU’s Hong Liu, an assistant professor of biological and ecological engineering, gained inspiration for the work when changing her young son’s diapers.

21 Year Old "Cathedral of Junk" Dismantled After Neighbours Complain

by Lloyd Alter

Image credit: royalconstantinesociety on Flickr
Austin used to be funky; as the Wall Street Journal notes, "For decades a college town with abundant cheap housing, Austin was a magnet for hippies, slackers and musicians looking for a care-free existence. They livened up the city with their music, art and festivals." It also attracted artists like Vince Hannemann who 21 years ago started building a sixty-ton structure out of hundreds of bikes, mattresses, compact disks and other junk. It became a tourist attraction.

Image credit: kokkofish on Flickr
But as his cathedral of junk grew, so did the neighbourhood; the farm behind his semi-rural lot became a subdivision and the real estate types moved in; according to the Journal,

Paul Gaither, who lives around the corner from Mr. Hannemann in a newly remodeled house, says he can see the tourist vans unloading visitors. The 48-year-old, who is in real estate, says he has been awakened by screaming children on their way to the cathedral. People have urinated in his yard after late-night events, he says.

Image credit: van.sutherland on Flickr
And in the battle between art and real estate values, we know who always wins. And we know who always does their dirty work: The building inspectors. After a "safety complaint" they moved in.According to the Austin Statesman,

In March the city's code compliance department told Hannemann he'd need to get a building permit if he wanted to keep his 33-foot-tall tower of bicycles, urinals, typewriters, sewing machines, crutches, lawn mower wheels, computer guts, at least one New York Ranger hockey souvenir and some stuff that can't even be identified in his South Austin back yard.

Hanneman at the Cathedral of Junk
Hanneman was doing his best to comply; dozens of volunteers worked to clean it up, make it stronger and safer. An architect volunteered to draw up the plans for permit applications. He told the Statesman:

"This has been like Groundhog Day, and worse," said Hannemann, who said he has been working "every step of the way" to comply with city regulations. "I get beat up and mugged every day. I've got the bruises and the wallet to prove it."

But all the changes eroded its value and Hanneman was no longer happy with it. "It already isn't the Cathedral. It might best be described as Junkhenge," he told the WSJ."I'm not willing to get a permit for the little that is left." So he is tearing it down.

This couple was married at the Cathedral of Junk in 2009. Image credit: bellatrixamici on Flickr
Thanking his supporters, Hanneman wrote:

"To all the people who have helped try and save the Cathedral of Junk; to the people who laid on hands, brought cases of water, sandwiches, tacos, power bars and other food; to the people who wrote the mayor and turned up to the Spider House benefit; to the unknown people who left art in the front yard or shoved money under my door; to the lawyers, and to both architect and engineer; to the core volunteer team; to the people who have showered me with love and help: I thank you.Your efforts have helped soothe my bruised heart. Nevertheless, I feel obligated to tell you that our efforts have been in vain. The City has made me alter the Cathedral so much that little of its original charm is left. They are still wanting a building permit for what is left. Therefore, I will be continuing to dismantle what remains. Also, visitors will be turned away. Thank you everyone. It's a sad day for me, but much more so for Austin and, by proxy, the world.

As one supporter said: "The loss of the cathedral is a tremendous blow to the arts in Austin." But it is great for real estate values; let's get our priorities straight.

Image credit: jzbassguitar on Flickr

Move Over OLEDs: Scientists Create Cheap, Fully Recyclable Lighting Material

by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York

Photo via Gizmag
Swedish and American researchers have just developed a fully recyclable lighting component with what Science Daily is terms a "new super material": graphene. Graphene is both inexpensive to produce and is 100% recyclable, and could be used to create glowing wallpaper made out of plastic--much like OLEDs could. But graphene appears to improve on OLEDs in some very big ways . . .

As you know, we've been big fans of the very efficient, long-lasting Light Emitting Diodes and Organic LED technology. But as Science Daily notes, there are still problems:

Today's OLEDs have two drawbacks -- they are relatively expensive to produce, and the transparent electrode consists of the metal alloy indium tin oxide. The latter presents a problem because indium is both rare and expensive and moreover is complicated to recycle.

A graphene lattice
Researchers believe they've found a solution by creating an organic light-emitting electrochemical cell (LEC) with the transparent electrode made of the "carbon material graphene." Graphene is used instead of conventional metal electrodes--and since everything in an LEC, including the graphene, can be created from liquid solutions, they will be able to be produced through a printing process. This makes them much more efficient--and much less expensive--to create en masse than OLEDs. Researchers involved in the project say that graphene paves the way for cheap production of plastic-based lighting, perhaps for the first time.
So what does this graphene consist of? SD has the skinny:

Graphene consists of a single layer of carbon atoms and has many attractive properties as an electronic material. It has high conductivity, is virtually transparent, and can moreover be produced as a solution in the form of graphene oxide.

Of course, we'll have to wait until more tests are done to get a fuller idea of its lifecycle and range of applications, but this seems like pretty intriguing news indeed

Shipping Container Housing/ Building

Prefab Housing Pyramid Puts Students in a (Container) Box

by Jorge Chapa

From its modular modern design to its shipping container components, Olgga’s student housing complex struck us as a pitch perfect project for prefab friday. The French architecture firm designed the complex to be constructed from 100 repurposed shipping containers. Talk about putting your students in a box!

The project was developed for a contest promoted by the Centre régional des œuvres universitaires et scolaires (CROUS) of Haute Normandie (an administrator of student assistance in France. The contest challenged architects to explore creative designs for student housing complexes that utilize shipping containers, with the aim of creating the first such structure in the country.
Olgga came in second place with their design, which comprises 2,900 square meters and would cost around 4.5 million euros. Each container is a room for one student, complete with a study area, bathroom, and living room. For more amazing shipping container abodes, check out Flavorwire’s assortment here.
+ Olgga Architects

Beautiful Shipping Container Sunset Observatory Rises in South Korea

This beautiful sunset observatory made from recycled shipping containers was recently constructed in the harbor of Songdo New City in Incheon, South Korea. Designed and built by AnL Studio, “OceanScope” is a composed of five recycled containers, each one angled at a different height to provide 3 distinct views of the harbor.
             

Dominican Authorities Approve Container Cities For Haiti Housing Relief

Numerous disaster relief housing projects have been proposed to help in the aftermath of the Haiti Earthquake last month, and while many of them seem workable, none (as of yet) will actually be implemented. But a new shipping container project designed by Richard Moreta and his team may change all that. Dominican Authorities just recently gave approval for Moreta’s “Container Cities” project, which utilizes a modular construction system along with recycled shipping containers, to be built in the Dominican Republic to supply housing for victims of the earthquake.
Read the rest of Dominican Authorities Approve Container Cities For Haiti Housing Relief

Stacked Shipping Container Medical Complex in Sudan

by Yuka Yoneda

You know how much we love shipping container architecture here at Inhabitat, and we get especially excited about buildings that contribute to the greater good of an area or community. Well, we couldn't have found a more shining example of that than this beautiful medical complex in Soba, Sudan. The breezy complex sits right near the Nile river around a courtyard of mango trees, and is constructed of discarded 90 ft x 20 ft containers taken right from the construction site of the adjacent Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery.

Designed by Italian firm, Tam Architecture, the idea for the complex was conceived when the architects noticed the leftover containers lying around the construction site and wanted to reuse them. Using them to provide the international staff of the cardiac center with a place to stay seemed like the perfect opportunity. The housing units are 20 sqm and consist of a bedroom, a bathroom and a small veranda on the court side. There is also a cafeteria which is made out of smaller 7 ft x 40 ft containers.
In addition to being fabricated out of shipping containers that were already at the site (no extra fuel costs or shipping emissions!), Tam took extra measures to make the complex energy-efficient. The containers are insulated with a layer system: 5 cm insulating panels on the inside and a second insulated roof and a bamboo brise soleil panel system on the outside, meaning that the sun’s rays never make contact with the containers. Solar panels supply hot water for the compound and an air conditioning system that utilizes photovoltaic panels and chilling machines has been tested for the complex.

InterModal Design Launches New Prefab Shipping Container Units

by Bridgette Meinhold

Although modular by design, shipping container architecture have mostly been executed by individuals or firms on a case by case basis. Now, InterModal Design, a subsidiary of Hive Modular, is changing the game with their newly launched line of prefab shipping container living units that you can order and have shipped right to you. The dwelling comes complete with a kitchen, living area that transforms into a bedroom and (in some units) a bathroom. The interiors are fairly spartan, but the intention is for these units to be affordable and capable of shipping anywhere.

InterModal Design was started after the co-founder of Hive Modular, Paul Stankey, built a shipping container cabin in Northern Minnesota for his family. After the success of their project, they felt confident they could provide a similar service to others looking for affordable and strong living units made from shipping containers.
There are currently six different designs available already – from basic 20 foot containers with the bare necessities to double wide container houses with two rooms. The current line focuses on auxiliary structures, but the design team is capable of drawing up more complicated structures with higher end finishings. As they say, “with shipping containers, the sky is the limit.” Check out their website for more details about their designs and contact them for a sheet on pricing.

Shipping Container Cities to Shelter 2 Million Haitians From Hurricanes

by Bridgette Meinhold

There's been a lot of disasters this year, but the aftermath of the Haiti Earthquake has left the country in a dire state and with hurricane season approaching, 2 million people are without adequate shelter and living in tents. Relief in the form of shipping container housing is in progress, but help is still needed. Richard Moreta and his team, Green Container International Aid, who we covered back in February, have been working on securing a large number of used shipping containers for use in their Container Cities. Moreta recently sent us an email asking for support for the people of Haiti -- specifically he needs help amplifying his message to authorities, those in power or with business connections to donate shipping containers and help save lives. Please read on and spread the word!

 

Moreta and his team, Green Container International Aid, have been working non-stop to begin construction on their Container Cities. A pilot project has already begun in Jacmel, which lies along the Caribbean Sea, in the Southern part of Port-Au-Prince. They will start building emergency shelters as soon as they start receiving shipping containers, which can be quickly retrofitted into durable structures that can withstand the hurricane season. These basic structures will include new exterior paint, plywood floors, a Green Roof (geo-textile fabric, gravel layers, humus, vegetation), fabric covers over the top to protect them from the sun and collect rain water, a screen panel at the entry doors of the containers to provide for mosquito protection, and a foundation. After enough shelters have been provided for the victims, the homes can be further built-out and made more habitable.
Richard Moreta has recently been down to Haiti trying to secure shipping containers, determine the best ways to utilize them, and prioritize their efforts. The situation, as Moreta told us, is not good. Right now there are 2 million people living in tent camps, and when hurricane season starts in June, they will have no protection. Experts are predicting that a major hurricane landfall in Haiti is likely this coming season due to a weakening of El Niño, so hurricane-resistant shelters need to be constructed NOW in order to secure the safety of Haiti’s disaster-stricken population. On top of that, many Haitians are now terrified of concrete buildings, and many do not want to be inside for fear that another earthquake will demolish it with them inside. Seismologists also fear that those cracked buildings will not be able to withstand hurricane strength winds.

This is a call for help. Moreta and his team are asking for a MASSIVE DONATION of shipping containers from around the world to be shipped to Haiti. Hapag-Lloyd, the biggest container company in the world, has already donated 5 shipping containers to their efforts, but many more are needed. This is where we start the revolution and spread the word. If Betty White can get on Saturday Night Live through a Facebook group, then surely we can get other major companies (like Costco, Home Deport, Wal-Mart, Target, etc.) to donate containers and have them shipped to Haiti. There are only 2 MONTHS left before the start of the hurricane season. The Green Container International Aid team has a solution in place, but they don’t have the containers. If you want to help the people of Haiti, spread the word, visit the GCIA Facebook page and help them in their quest to acquire containers!

Gorgeous Shipping Container Art Studio in New York

by Bridgette Meinhold

Wow! We knew that shipping containers could be used to build beautiful buildings, but this art studio by MB Architecture in Amagansett, New York is truly gorgeous. The artist had a limited budget of $60,000 to work with and wanted something close to home that was both functional as a working space, but would also be inviting and reflective. The exterior is kept very simply as the shipping container, but painted gray for a sophisticated look and a way to blend the container into the wooded environment. Inside, bright white walls act as a blank canvas for new artwork and ample daylighting streams in through the large windows on either end.

   

 

The foundation for the studio is built into the earth with 9′ walls and acts as the lower level and work space for the studio. Two 40′ (9′6″) high cube shipping containers were then set on top of the foundation to create a two-story double wide structure. About 75% of the floors of the containers were cut away to create the tall ceilings with lots of natural light flooding in from the high windows.
Next to the painting area on the lower floor is a large storage area and directly above on the top floor is another work area. The container wide staircase acts as a transitional and gallery space for artwork. Each of the two containers cost about $2,500 delivered. An amazing example of how beautiful shipping container architecture can be.

IBM Creates Plant-Based, Highly Recyclable Plastics

IBM Creates Plant-Based, Highly Recyclable Plastics

by Brit Liggett and Sarah Parsons

IBM researchers announced yesterday that they discovered a method of creating highly recyclable plastics from one of the most eco-friendly materials around – plants. Not only are the material’s components greener than traditional petroleum-based products, the production process uses significantly less energy.

IBM scientists used organic catalysts – catalysts made from organic compounds instead of metals to create plastic polymers that are functional through many rounds of recycling. Traditional plastics can generally be recycled once before the metal in the polymer starts to degrade and it must be sent to the landfill. The new compounds can be up-cycled and down-cycled into many different types of plastics. A plastic bottle can have a new life as a car bumper. Previously it was difficult to remake polymer compounds that retain the strength of the original materials.
The scientists also have high hopes for the use of the new eco-plastics in medicinal applications. Many encapsulated drugs are currently highly toxic because of the metal in the plastics involved. The new organocatalysts plastics could be used to deliver directed cancer therapy drugs safely because the polymers will safely degrade and deliver medicine on site in the body. In addition to all of this great news, researchers said that the new catalysts are, “dirt cheap.”

 

Papercrete

I would especially like to continue to share this information with my architect/builder/artist/other friends as well as my good friend, Bob Gregory of Texas Disposal Systems (TDS), in that Bob could possibly turn this into a viable reuse product through TDS ingenuity.

This product can be used along with traditional construction and other innovative product use for schools, governmental buildings and commercial applications in addition to residential and art creations.

Prior to being sealed, papercrete can be carved into almost any shape opening up interesting architectural/art possibilities.

There is an organic bed and breakfast, Eve's Garden, in Eve’s Garden located in the beautiful high mountain desert of West Texas, in Marathon that is built completely from papercrete. Check out Eve's garden at www.evesgarden.org 

Thanks for taking your time to read this, research it more if it interests you and feel free to pass it on.

PAPERCRETE Current papercrete construction methods and papercrete research are covered in detail on this site. Papercrete construction involves using waste paper for affordable, sustainable housing.  In the United States, we discard enough paper each year to build a wall 48 feet high around the entire perimeter of the country. Even though about 45 percent of discarded paper is recycled annually, 55 percent or 48 million tons of paper is thrown away or goes into the landfills. Figuring conservatively, it takes about fifteen trees to make a ton of paper. That means that 720 million trees are used once and then buried in a landfill each year. We are experimenting with ways to turn this prodigious amount of waste into low-cost, high-value sustainable housing. Given the skyrocketing costs of building materials & construction, and the pressing need for homes, it is just a matter of time before papercrete will begin to  take its place as an acceptable and even desirable residential construction material.           The press is trailer-mounted and runs on a small gas engine. Blocks are ejected on their side and can be handled immediately. We are also working on a 5-yard mixer with dump bed and pump, which will feed the press! Presses and mixers are still in development, but we expect to have hard information and pricing by March, 2010.
	Below - Clyde T. Curry’s imaginative designs at Eve’s Garden. Below - Tom Curry's vaulted papercrete cottage - Sunny Glen. To the greatest degree possible, we obtain our information from first-hand observation, interviews with experts, experimentation, engineering research and actual construction. However, formulas and methods evolve and change as we learn more, and any material can be dangerous if mixed or installed improperly. Therefore, please read this Disclaimer. 3 mins (DSL or Cable only.) 51 secs(DSL or Cable only.)       Above -The living room and dining room in Zach Rabon's boomerang-shaped 3200 sq. ft. papercrete home.
WHAT IS PAPERCRETE? There are a number of ways to make construction material from paper. The generic term for the method described here is "papercrete". There are a number of variations of papercrete, such as fibrous concrete or fibercrete, fibrous cement, padobe and fidobe. See more about these variations under Mixes. Barry J. Fuller tosses blocks to Lex Terry for stacking at the building site. Papercrete is a tricky term. The name seems to imply a mix of paper and concrete, hence paper-crete. But more accurately, only the Portland cement part of concrete is used in the mix - if used at all. Arguably, it could have been called "paperment." Papercrete may be mixed in many ways. Different types of papercrete contain 50-80 percent waste paper! Up to now, there are no hard and fast rules, but recommended standards will undoubtedly be established in the future. The basic constituents are water and nearly any kind of paper. Cardboard, glossy magazine stock, advertising brochures, junk mail or just about any other type of  "mixed (lower) grade" paper is acceptable.  Some types of  paper work better than others, but all types work.. Newsprint is best. Waterproofed paper and cardboard, such as butcher paper, beer cartons, etc. are harder to break down in water. Catalogs, magazines and other publications are fine in and of themselves, but some have a stringy, rubbery, sticky spine, which is also water resistant. Breaking down this kind of material in the mixing process can't be done very well. Small fragments and strings of these materials are almost always present in the final mix. When using papercrete containing the unwanted material in a finish, such as in stucco or plaster, the unwanted fragments sometimes show up on the surface, but this is not a serious problem. Papercrete can be sculpted into any shape and painted. Practitioners simply flick out the offending pieces as they apply the finish. Papercrete additives can be: Portland cement, sand, dirt, clay, glass, or even "fly ash" - an ash at one time freely emitted into the atmosphere - now at least partially captured from power plant smoke stacks. We are experimenting with powdered glass, rice hull ash, Styrofoam and other additives.
THE ENVIRONMENTAL BONUS The environment sends papercrete Valentines. Using papercrete in construction: Incentivizes the recycling of waste paper, especially in communities with no recycling services. Saves landfill space. Keeps paper processing & printing chemicals out of the water table. Saves trees and other construction resources, which would have been used in place of papercrete for walls and roof. Saves additional trees and other construction resources, which would have been used to "build out" or finish the interior and exterior of the structure. R-Value better than code - saves a significant amount of energy during  the lifetime of the structure. Provides new construction jobs. Provides low-cost, sustainable housing. Individuals and small contractors can get into papercrete. There are no harmful by-products or excessive energy use in the production of papercrete. While it can be argued that Portland cement is not environmentally friendly, it is not used in all types of papercrete, and when it is, it represents a fairly small percentage of the cured material by volume. One of the most advantageous properties of papercrete is the way paper fibers hold Portland cement - or perhaps the way Portland cement adheres to paper fibers. When the water added to the paper and Portland cement drains from the mix, it comes out almost completely clear. There is no messy and eco-unfriendly cement sediment left on the ground, running into waterways, etc. Papercrete can be produced using solar energy. The only power needed is for mixing - and pumping water. Its R-Value is rated between 2.0 and 3.0 per inch. Since walls in a one or two-story house will be 12-16 inches thick, the long-term energy savings of building with papercrete will be a bonanza for the homeowner and the environment.
THE JOB BONUS There will be a positive impact on employment in areas producing papercrete. Homes and other buildings of up to 3300 sq. ft. have been built with papercrete for about $25/sq.ft. That doesn't include labor, but even when labor is factored in, papercrete homes can be built, with all the conveniences, for twenty to thirty percent less than conventional housing. The preparation and installation of papercrete does not require significant outlays of capital or a great deal of additional training. Individuals and new or existing small construction enterprises can add papercrete to their businesses for very little extra money or time. Papercrete batch plants, for building entire sub-developments, are in the prototype stages now and will be available soon. These operations will cost more, but still be within reach for the small sub-contractor.