Could You Live in a Steel Box?

This new post I must credit to my brother.  He was the first to tell me of this radical way of recycling.  Most of us are accustomed to recycling and do it part of our everyday life (or so I hope!).  Recycling is good and is needed, but could we get radical with the idea of recycling!?  When I mean radical, I mean think outside the box and live in something as unpredictable as a steel shipping container!?  For those who are confused or unsure what this particular item is, see figure 1.

Figure 1- Steel shipping container

I'm sure many of you are thinking that's not livable, but I assure you it is!  Not to mention quite sustainable and we are reducing and recycling!  Man I love it when everything comes together, win for us and a win for the environment.  I think it is awkward and quite absurd we live in stick built homes on a cement slab with glass windows and asphalt shingles!  What is natural and sustainable in living this way!?  Seem a** backwards?  Well yes it is and that's why I'm here posting about it.  Lets look at ways people have turned a basic, affordable Steele shipping container into a sustainable way of life.

1) Apartments- Provides affordable living while looking aesthetically pleasing.

2) Office building and/or Retail store- Provides affordable space while reducing cost of maintenance and is surprisingly secure.  As seen in the picture the containers can be configured to keep steel doors on.  How secure would your retail store be from theft in one of these puppies!

3) Homes- Provides an affordable place to live with little maintenance and again is quite aesthetically pleasing with a modern charm.

It amazes me, nature has provided us with such an amazing compound, why not recycle it into something better than what it was intended for!?  I totally dig the idea of walking my dog down a street lined with homes built from recycled material, wouldn't that make you feel apart of the world?  Like we're doing our part to live a more sustainable life?  

Containerization all began as a way to shave a few dollars off the cost of sending Malcom McLean's trucks between New York and North Carolina (Levinson, 2008).  So what started as simple invention to ship some trucks, revolutionized shipping and the world economy!  Now these same containers have the ability to shock the world again by making sustainable place to live.  Sure it's not all peaches and cream, they have some disadvantages as well, such as, conducting heat well and the spillage of certain cargo in the container could pose health risks (Shipping container housing-Pros and Cons).  But overall it's a novel idea that should be considered and researched more.  

References

 Levinson, Marc. The box: how the shipping container made the world smaller and the world economy bigger. Pbk. ed. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2008. Print.

"Shipping container housing – Pros and Cons." Container Transportation. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 May 2014. <http://www.container-transportation.com/shipping-container-housing.html>.