Even if you don’t like shipping container homes, this house has lots of good ideas that can be utilized on other designs.
“Kam Kasravi and Connie Dewitt wanted a modern cabin that wouldn’t disrupt the Redwoods on their property. First they considered prefabs, but quickly realized they wouldn’t fit up the narrow road to their land in the Santa Cruz mountains. So they convinced their friend, architect David Fenster, to design them a home made from shipping containers.
Built from recycled cargo containers hand-picked from the Port of Oakland, Six Oaks was built around the footprint of the land. The containers were building blocks that were cut and stacked to fit between Redwoods along a steep grade.”
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Honestly, it did not have to be costly to build a nice shipping container home.
Just have a look at this amazing examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_HV68lBh-Y
It’s very nice but, I get the feeling that the end result was very costly and I don’t believe that money is an issue for these folks so, I’m not sure the average family would get the same results. BUT, I’m just thinking of those who want to get out of the box at a reasonable cost. 75 thousand or more is still in the box.
As Owen alluded to in his intro … you don’t have to be a fan of shipping containers to see several interesting ideas incorporated into this home.
Never be afraid to find the good ideas that you like inside an overall house plan that may not be your style.
The “shower tower” concept was interesting. While there are many possibilities for building outdoor showers, this one is unique, and could be build with a variety of materials. When viewing structures made from cement blocks, it’s very easy to allow one’s imagination to see that same element built with earthbags. Also, stacking all the plumbing in one big column like that through multiple floors can save money because you’re not running pipes all over the house. Another thought… if the upstairs bathroom ever gets a leak… you need not worry about causing lots of damage downstairs. That outdoor shower down below won’t care if water drips from upstairs. That’s a smart and money saving design concept.
The long window span of wall windows and skylights was very striking. This idea could be incorporated into many different home styles.
The walkway bridge access directly to the upper floor from the hillside could also be copied. I like the idea of the metal grating used as flooring for that walkway too. Think of that as a long narrow porch entryway. People come hiking up to the house, from the forest, muddy shoes and boots, and they hit your front porch, all the dirt and crud from their shoes gets scraped off by that metal grating and falls to the ground before it gets tracked inside your house.
Really, the best ideas inside this particular structure have nothing to do with shipping containers. Most of the ideas can be easily copied to other structures using different materials very easily.