december-2010

Living in a box
Containers can be
run off mains
power, solar, a
generator or gas
cylinder.
They’re cheap and compact, but can life in a
shipping container really be much fun?
This year, according to the UN, the
planet’s urban population outnumbered
people living in rural areas for the fi rst
time in human history. In the last decade,
a plethora of fi rms have sprung up
worldwide offering shipping container
accomodation from beach huts to (small)
family dwellings. Keetwonen in
Watergraafsmeer, Amsterdam, is Europe’s
largest container city, with 1,000 units of
student accommodation, while in USA,
the Nomadic Museum was built from 152
shipping containers in 2005, and has
moved from New York to California,
Tokyo and Mexico City.
Optional
portholes for
ventilation.
Price
A standard steel shipping container costs
around €1,000. A fully converted container
home costs around €20,000, or €667 per
square metre. The average selling price of
apartments in Amsterdam is €4,437 per
square metre.