I came across an interesting post by blogger Melissa Hincha-Ownby about the growing use of old shipping containers, also known as boxes (on the East Coast) and cans (West Coast) for constructing office space. The author references the popularity of containers as a basis for home construction by citing the existance of a section of Bob Vila's website devoted to the trend.
The article mentions a new 12 container office building under construction in Providence, Rhode Island and also cites Shipping Container Architecture, a website devoted to webpage devoted to listing as many examples of the use of shipping containers as architectual elements as the author, Zack Smith can find.
My curiosty peaked, I found numerous other website and blog postings devoted to the subject of recycling shipping containers as housing, office space and hotel rooms. Fast Company blogger Michael Cannell had a particularly interesting post with numerous comments discussing the design of architect Adam Kalkin. Kalin has designed the Quik House - a prefabricated kit house from recycled shipping containers. It has three bedrooms and two and one-half baths in its 2,000 square foot plan.
Given the number of vessels laid up around the world, the number of idle containers must be staggering.
