I have to admit that I’ve been leery of past proposals to expand the use of shipping containers for low cost housing. It just sounds like a plan to house people in stripped down, hot, unpleasant industrial spaces.
Then yesterday, walking from the bus in Las Vegas to a nearby bookstore, I came upon a small shopping area called “Container Park.”
And it was just that. Three stories of shipping containers turned into small retail stores, restaurants, and bars, with two large play areas in the center for kids.
These are not your father’s containers.
The structures were open, colorful, and inviting. They were finished inside and bore little resemblance to their industrial origins.
So I guess that I need to revise my earlier views, if things are done right.
Click below for a few photos of the Container Park stores.
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You should check out the ‘container park’ residential area at Sand Island . . . by most accounts, they seem to work as transitional shelters.
Pretty and neat! Stackable looks good, too.
Having stayed at a quonset hut-turned residential home by a friend, I am not surprised at all by what imagination and ingenuity can do with cargo containers. Not everyone is gifted is gifted with such vision and creativity. The naysayers of the Sand Island village, for example….
Tiny houses seem to be taking a hold on the Mainland. They have a lot of space-saving features. Here’s one blog about homes in Colorado – http://tinyhouseblog.com/tiny-house-for-sale/10-tiny-houses-for-sale-in-colorado/
This type of housing could certainly make migration, even immigration, much less logistically complicated.
Being in Hilo a while back, you might have visited Manono Street Marketplace (Miyo’s, Hawaiian Style Café). The buildings are boxy and look like shipping containers, but I’m not sure if they actually were made from such.
http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections/news/local-news/new-shopping-center-open-hilo.html