Design a green home out of shipping containers.

Project Title: Contain it Housing
Designer: Jennifer Caffrey   
Title: Technology Education Teacher
Company: Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School Old Lyme, Connecticut
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Shipping containers were originally invented to carry cargo across oceans. A few years back, some resourceful person came up with the idea of using them as makeshift shelters. Cargo shipping containers make great housing because they are strong, durable, waterproof, resistant to mold, fire, and termites, as well as being affordable, easy to assemble, stackable, and readily available. Shipping containers are in abundant supply and many are ready for recycling; housing is the ideal solution.

Shipping-container housing has gained increasing recognition in the wake of the tragic natural disasters in New Orleans and Haiti where low-cost, emergency housing continues to be an urgent need. Innovative architects and green designers are taking this simple idea one step further and turning shipping containers into housing that is not only functional and affordable, but sustainable and often strikingly beautiful.

Jennifer Caffery is a technology teacher and creator of the Green Literacy and Architectural Design (GLAD) curriculum. In a series of videos, Jennifer gives you an overview of the creative process involved in designing a shipping container home using Autodesk® Revit® Architecture software. First, you understand the needs of your client such as space requirements, location, and budget. You research existing container home designs and improve on them. You put every crazy idea that comes to you on paper, choose the best ones, and design prototypes until one design stands out over the others. You test and refine your design until you and your client are completely happy with the results. Revit enables you to add furniture, windows, walls, and doors, and easily change your plan as you go. Your final design should be functional, affordable, easy to assemble, and sustainable. Think outside and inside the box!