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Eco Living In A Container

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The New Pre Fab Homes

Shipping containers make for amazing housing. For one thing, they don't need to be built. A typical container is taken out of the transportation service after two or three years and can then be purchased for a reasonable cost, sometimes as low as $900. They can also be prefabricated and designed to your specifications for a fraction of the price of a conventional home.

They are remarkably durable, often made from corrugated steel with tubular steel frames, which makes the structure strong to withstand any severe climatic conditions.

They are waterproof, they can be stacked, they need no foundation and they can be transported and placed almost anywhere.

The hip recycled homes in this video are examples of artist studios in East London. Here they have connected three containers together, making the rooms the shape of conventional ones.

"Architects are looking for the modular solution" says Eric Reynolds, managing director of Urban Space Management "Every 40 foot truck that passes you on the road has the solution sitting on it's back."

Imagine: because they are often cheaper to buy new than to ship back to the country of origin, countless containers are sitting around shipping docks all over the world taking up space, waiting to become someones new home...

-- Bibi Farber

This video was produced by the BBC