by Russell Boniface
Associate Editor

Summary: One person’s empty shipping crate can be another person’s design treasure. At Cañada College in Redwood City, south of San Francisco, interior design students have created concepts for disaster and homeless housing incorporating imported-goods shipping containers. An 11-week class project, led by design instructor Annie Cronin, yielded creative designs that arrange and stack the spacious metal containers into low-cost, temporary communities.

In their creative design drawings, Cañada College students showed how empty, boxy shipping containers of metal and fiberglass could be used to provide temporary housing. The durable, box-shaped units, which measure 8 by 20 feet in plan and average about 10 feet high, can be use singly or merged into multi-unit complexes.

Students showed how empty, boxy shipping containers of metal and fiberglass could be used to provide temporary housing

The students used room layouts and amenities found in typical homes in their unit designs, including beds, bathroom and kitchen fixtures, hardwood floors, countertops, tiles, and microwaves. A planned community unit design showcased a garden, play area, pet park, clinic, space for laptops, a social-services facility, and laundry room. One design opened up the units to the outside with patios for more living space, a loft area, and green rooftop, while another featured computerized sun-tracking solar panels. Recycled and environmentally friendly materials were part of the student designs and included bamboo flooring, countertops and tiles, non-toxic fabrics, and low VOC paints.

Creative design solution for disaster relief, homelessness
“For this class, the focus was an interior for disaster relief housing, but the designs also could be for homeless shelters, too,” says Cronin. “The assignment was one floor plan, two elevations, and one perspective of their units. I stressed LEED® and ways to get sustainable materials for their designs from within a 500-mile radius of the project, which included researching and specifying materials and finishes.”

Cronin says goods in shipping containers arrive in port cities like San Francisco from places such as China, and then go back empty. Cronin thought the empty metal cubes could be put to better use. Her idea for the shipping container class project arose from the 100-year anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. “After the earthquake, 3,000 cottages were built in Golden Gate Park, and in three weeks they had 3,000 people housed in them. At the anniversary event, there was a display of the old photographs, and on the opposing wall there were pictures of Hurricane Katrina showing that not much was done there. I thought that empty shipping containers could be a good class design project using a minimal amount of square footage and also be a creative design solution to disaster relief and homelessness, especially for areas like San Francisco and New Orleans with large ports.

Shipping containers arrive in port cities like San Francisco from places such as China, and then go back empty

“The empty containers could be purchased for $900; provide a roof, walls, and ceiling; and be used and accessed,” Cronin explains. “The students showed how you would place them on a foundation, insulate them from the inside or outside, cut out openings for windows, and stack them on top of each other. The boxes are hurricane safe, up to 140 mph. There are architects now using the shipping containers for high-end construction.”

Cronin believes that with so much pre-fabricated building, a container’s rooms, ideally made from sustainable materials, could get “popped in” with kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms. The boxed units could be designed to include amenities like microwaves, skylights, and laptops.

Containing community
Cronin, who experienced her own major house fire, agrees with her students that shipping containers turned into a planned community could help displaced people put their lives back together through a sense of community. “[After the fire] we were able to rent a house in our neighborhood, and nearby there was a school and support system. My kids and I didn’t need to be in a motel for seven months,” she said.

Cañada College offers four different design classes for a green design certificate. Cronin said she was impressed with her student’s creativity and sustainable awareness during the shipping container design project. “I was blown away.”