On the face of it, shipping container-based architecture can seem like a pretty bad idea. The metal boxes are cramped, offer no insulation, and often require heavy modification to be of any use. That ...

From tiny houses to student housing, we continue to be impressed at what architects can make from the humble shipping container. Colo Crossings, from Australian studio Benn + Penna, is definitely one ...

After chronicling local efforts of shipping container architects like Peter DeMaria, let's head to West Coast Green, currently being held at the San Jose convention center, because Inhabitat has ...

Transforming shipping containers into housing is a trend that doesn’t seem to be slowing down, but are shipping container homes really a good — or even humane — solution? Durable, portable, stackable, ...

Rammed earth, sod, yak wool, reclaimed wood, oriented-strand board, straw ... nowadays, the smorgasbord of offerings in alternative building methods and materials is staggeringly abundant, if not a ...

When local entrepreneur and investor Scott Petinga set out to create his new office space in Minneapolis’ North Loop, he had one major goal in mind: Don’t make it mediocre. His plan for a building ...

Haley Mast is a freelance writer, fact-checker, and small organic farmer in the Columbia River Gorge. She enjoys gardening, reporting on environmental topics, and spending her time outside ...

Shigeru Ban Architects have launched Phase Two of their ongoing Disaster Relief Projects for victims of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan this spring. Using existing shipping containers of 20 ...

Adam Kalkin isn’t the only architect to make homes out of shipping containers. A handful of architects, including Jennifer Siegal and Lot-Ek, began using them ten years ago as a gritty reaction ...

There are about 120 million shipping containers around the world at any given moment, doing what they were designed to do, which is to encase the oddly sized things that people enjoy (crop tops, ...

Cargotecture is one of our favorite topics on Inhabitat and it should be no wonder why—building with shipping containers can be an affordable way to provide high-quality housing. Insite Portable ...