Shipping Container House,From the inside it looks like a trendy albeit minimalist home, not dissimilar to something you might glance over in a IKEA catalogue.
But from the outside it certainly stands out from the row of ordinary houses in residential Ringsend. In fact, from street view, it doesn�t look like a house at all!
That�s because this newly built home is made from recycled shipping containers. Seven of them stacked and aligned.
This quirky two-level, three-bedroom structure is home to a family of four, the Kelleys.
Container Home
According to the architecture firm behind the project, LiD Architecture, the container house is a sign of things to come in Ireland�s housing market.
Shipping container dwellings have become popular internationally in recent years, they point out, This is due to containers being low-cost and abundantly available in European ports dueto the predominantly east to west flows of global trade.
That may be the case, but this container house isn�t as cheap as you might expect. To complete the ground work and the two floors to date has cost �300,000.
The site in Ringsend was purchased for �50,000. The single trip high-cube containers meanwhile cost �3000 each. They are however, the more expensive option to a standard container, which costs �1500 each.
Of course, if the construction of container houses were to become more mainstream, costs would decrease and the six-month build time would be reduced too.
The Kelleys are now saving a further �75,000 to add a third and final floor to their home.
But all costs considered, the flexibility of the container home means the Kelleys saved money when you take into consideration the site they purchased.
The architects point out that you would not be able to build a standard home on the land the Kelleys bought. The ground conditions were poor as much of Ringsend is reclaimed. Further,
the site has boundaries with six properties. Add to that fire considerations and limited space and you are looking at having to build a specially designed commercial structure with a lot of expensive steel and glass. It could potentially cost double the price of the container home.
When the third floor is added, the Kelleys will have a 158sqm home on a 70sqm site. Not a bad deal at all
