BY JOHN GALLAGHER • FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER • May 13, 2008
The idea of putting people in empty shipping containers hardly evokes images of stylish urban living.
But a Detroit-based group hopes to use empty shipping containers to build one of the most unusual -- and certainly one of the most innovative -- residential projects in southeast Michigan.
The project would stack empty containers four high, cut in windows and doors, install plumbing, stairways and heating, and add amenities such as balconies and landscaped patios.
If it wins city approvals, the 17-unit condominium project could break ground this fall and open near Wayne State University in 2009. Steven Flum, a Detroit-based architect who designed the project, said it solves several problems at once, including the need to build environmentally sensitive buildings cheaply. The project is going to cost about $1.8 million, about 25% less than a normal condo project of similar quality would run.
"It's like building blocks," he said. "From the architect's point of view, the containers allow for creative urban design. They are innovative and modern, but also affordable."
The partners plan to build their prototype on the southeast corner of Rosa Parks and Warren, on lots now vacant or containing burned-out homes. They call their project "Exceptional Green Living on Rosa Parks."
The project will offer condominium units measuring 960 to 1,920 square feet. Prices will range from about $100,000 to around $190,000.
Any doubts might be dispelled by Flum's renderings of the project.
"People think they're going to be cubbyholes," Flum said. "They're going to be quite large and open."
The developer, Leslie Horn, chief executive of the Detroit-based Power of Green Housing organization, said using empty shipping containers is not a new idea.
"It's been done in Europe and, to a limited extent, in this country. But no one has looked at organizing the process on a larger scale incorporating a range of recycled materials and efficiencies that could save a homeowner as much as 60% annually in energy costs," she said.
Horn and Flum said they would use special insulating paint inside and out, high-efficiency water heaters and other energy-saving methods. But by far, the most environmentally friendly aspect of the project is the use of discarded shipping containers.
They estimate there are 700,000 empty shipping containers piling up near U.S. ports around the country, including at a yard near Fort and I-75 in Detroit. The containers tend to be cheaper to build new than to return to their country of origin, so once delivered here and emptied, they pile up by the thousands.
If successful, the prototype project could lead to widespread other uses of empty containers, Horn said, including student or emergency housing, temporary construction offices and infill houses in urban neighborhoods.
Want a preview? To see some of the innovative uses to which containers have been put in Europe, visit www.containercity.com.
Meanwhile, a small version of one converted shipping container is featured in the exhibit Considering Architecture: Sustainable Designs from Detroit, running through July 28 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit in Detroit.
The idea of putting people in empty shipping containers hardly evokes images of stylish urban living.
But a Detroit-based group hopes to use empty shipping containers to build one of the most unusual -- and certainly one of the most innovative -- residential projects in southeast Michigan.
The project would stack empty containers four high, cut in windows and doors, install plumbing, stairways and heating, and add amenities such as balconies and landscaped patios.
If it wins city approvals, the 17-unit condominium project could break ground this fall and open near Wayne State University in 2009. Steven Flum, a Detroit-based architect who designed the project, said it solves several problems at once, including the need to build environmentally sensitive buildings cheaply. The project is going to cost about $1.8 million, about 25% less than a normal condo project of similar quality would run.
"It's like building blocks," he said. "From the architect's point of view, the containers allow for creative urban design. They are innovative and modern, but also affordable."
The partners plan to build their prototype on the southeast corner of Rosa Parks and Warren, on lots now vacant or containing burned-out homes. They call their project "Exceptional Green Living on Rosa Parks."
The project will offer condominium units measuring 960 to 1,920 square feet. Prices will range from about $100,000 to around $190,000.
Any doubts might be dispelled by Flum's renderings of the project.
"People think they're going to be cubbyholes," Flum said. "They're going to be quite large and open."
The developer, Leslie Horn, chief executive of the Detroit-based Power of Green Housing organization, said using empty shipping containers is not a new idea.
"It's been done in Europe and, to a limited extent, in this country. But no one has looked at organizing the process on a larger scale incorporating a range of recycled materials and efficiencies that could save a homeowner as much as 60% annually in energy costs," she said.
Horn and Flum said they would use special insulating paint inside and out, high-efficiency water heaters and other energy-saving methods. But by far, the most environmentally friendly aspect of the project is the use of discarded shipping containers.
They estimate there are 700,000 empty shipping containers piling up near U.S. ports around the country, including at a yard near Fort and I-75 in Detroit. The containers tend to be cheaper to build new than to return to their country of origin, so once delivered here and emptied, they pile up by the thousands.
If successful, the prototype project could lead to widespread other uses of empty containers, Horn said, including student or emergency housing, temporary construction offices and infill houses in urban neighborhoods.
Want a preview? To see some of the innovative uses to which containers have been put in Europe, visit www.containercity.com.
Meanwhile, a small version of one converted shipping container is featured in the exhibit Considering Architecture: Sustainable Designs from Detroit, running through July 28 at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit in Detroit.
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