Building Hybrid Green Homes out of Shipping Containers - Storage Container

Sustainable thinking and design is leading the way by using shipping containers to build innovative homes. The practice is a diverse and full-service design collaborative that examines and explores practical ways to integrate client needs, project cost limitations, physical construction, energy conservation opportunities and innovation with local climate and living systems in a responsive way.

It embraces the philosophy that all things are inter-connected and merely exist at different levels of perception and reality, and with a whole systems thinking approach to problem solving, it explores patterns at all scales from macro to micro to explore and develop ways to integrate natural and man-made materials and systems.  This style of design is a problem-solving approach that considers design, engineering and space-making as an organic process of investigation, discovery and collaboration.  It results in a practical and functional, yet aesthetically balanced and responsive, organic architecture.

Using a building kit approach that utilizes plug-in components, the hybrid design approach is like the Prius hybrid automobile design, it combines different building technologies and energy systems to maximize energy, spatial and cost efficiencies that result in practical solutions while achieving substantial architectural variety and flexibility.   Using conventional building systems and materials combined with innovative solutions to solve new problems.

ECOTECHBUILD COMPLETES THE FIRST SHIPPING CONTAINER HOME IN THE MOJAVE DESERT

The hybrid house, a kit-like housing product is being offered for the first time to homeowners who want more than what is currently available with pre-fab and manufactured housing, even custom construction.

Some of its unique features include:

• hybrid house design: combines diverse pre-engineered building and energy conservation features to maximize efficiency and cost savings, while offering architectural design flexibility and variation.
• all steel construction: an integrated, steel framing system provides extraordinary strength, earthquake, fire and wind protection, as well as large window and door openings to maximize natural day-lighting, ventilation and evaporative cooling.
• solar home shading system:  a bolt-on, adjustable steel frame and shade system creates 50% solar heat, glare and wind reduction on the building and solar breezeway that allows for plug-in attachment of future solar electric and water heating panel arrays.
• living roof: movable, bolt-on module add-ons use grey water irrigation and are planted with native desert plants and sedums to absorb heat, glare, dust and CO2.
• water conservation: integrated grey water, water harvesting and storage systems.
• finished construction costs at 50% of equivalent, locally available, prefab alternatives.

The hybrid house consists of cargo containers and pre-engineered steel building components that can be erected and combined together at the site, often in less than an hour, are green and sustainable.