I grew up around shipping containers; my dad made them. I played with them in architecture school, designing a summer camp out of them, fascinated by the handling technology that made them cheap and ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

There’s something about shipping container buildings that gets people excited. Perhaps it’s seeing something so mundane and functional become beautiful and personal? Or witnessing Tetris-like blocks ...

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 ...

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 ...