The Future of Home Construction?

**maxx** · August-03-10, 03:28 PM

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=128953596

I think living in that house full of cubes would drive me crazy.

**jiminnm** · August-03-10, 05:39 PM

You could live in bigger cubes.
http://weburbanist.com/2008/05/26/ca...s-and-offices/

**wolverine** · August-03-10, 08:28 PM

Kind of like the idea except for the bathroom separated by a curtain bit. Drop a load and a couple guests suddenly stop by..."Oh, hey!....."

**Jimaz** · August-03-10, 08:58 PM

There are countless numbers of empty, unused shipping containers around the world just sitting on the shipping docks and taking up space. The reason for this is that it’s too expensive for a country to ship empty containers back to the their origin in most cases, it’s just cheaper to buy new containers from Asia. The result is an extremely high surplus of empty shipping containers that are just waiting to become someone’s home or office.

Needless to say, this underlines the extreme shift in balance of trade due to globalization. Hat's off to those who make lemonade of lemons though. Still, it seems unnatural. How long should it realistically take to reach equilibrium? Who benefits from taking it even further, beyond what is fair? What mechanisms are in place to hold them in check that they can't foment another global meltdown for their own gain?

**maxx** · August-04-10, 06:58 AM

I've seen a doc on Mike Reynolds. He built homes and cisterns from old tires and bottles in Banda Achai after the tsunami.

http://www.rodale.com/earthship-homes?page=0%2C1

He went to Haiti too.
http://blogs.wsj.com/developments/20...tires-bottles/

He had quite a battle convincing the good leaders of NM that his homes would fit into NM's aesthetic. Taos has lots of old adobe buildings .
http://www.homeqn.com/entry/home-mad...rous-pop-cans/

http://current.com/green/88602021_bo...-and-tires.htm

**jiminnm** · August-04-10, 10:30 AM

It's much more than adobe Maxx.
http://www.taosearthships.com/

**maxx** · August-06-10, 06:20 AM

I like the reddish look of the Petaca earthship.

**firstandten** · August-06-10, 08:53 AM

Culturally the Japanese can adapt to living in small spaces better than us Westerners. We would have a difficult time living in spaces smaller than we currently live in.

**stipes** · August-06-10, 09:28 AM

The only issue with me is living in a small space is storage for all the you accumulate over the years. I think most of us that walks in the garage can testify on that..
My Uncle that lives in Osaka has a 3 story home that is,, as he said crammed full of things my Aunt,,Cousin and he have saves and boxes everywhere..If you want a addition for your home there you cant build out, but only up..
I guess if a person wasnt a pack rat they could live that ways...I couldnt....

**wolverine** · August-07-10, 12:32 AM

You can also be comfortable in that small of a space if you have a nice big city outside your door. I didn't go too big here in Chicago choosing apartments because the moment I get home from work, I go right back outside to enjoy the city. The only thing that takes getting used to is not so much space, but taking a damn elevator to get home every...damn......time.....you.....leave.... The enjoyment of a 20 story journey in a vintage building wears off in about a week.

DetroitPole · August-12-10, 07:45 AM

Okay, so the writer is pitching the shipping container homes to yuppies and entrepreneurs, but couldn't this be a way to solve national and even world homelessness?

If these things are so cheap and plentiful we could create neat, planned cities of shipping containers - nothing fancy, but a free shipping container house to the homeless.

Of course there would have to be some qualifiers so they don't become full of crack-addicted maniacs.

**wolverine** · August-12-10, 08:06 AM

We can afford to build shipping containers houses just as easy as we can build fully furnished 1 bedroom apartments for the homeless. Cost of building the facilities to house them isn't so much the issue, it's the operation. You still need to supply electricity, water, and general up-keep.

DetroitDad · August-15-10, 09:04 AM

Detroit Mom and I have been looking into "Katrina Cottages".

Although, now is likely NOT the time to buy. We think property values will be dropping 20-30% by 2012. 2013 might be our year.

**Jimaz** · August-15-10, 12:54 PM

I had to look up Katrina cottage. Good idea.

Just the other day I was trying to imagine how a house could be designed to start small but be easily enlarged as needed, kind of like a nautilus shell.