Il prototipo, un classico container riadattato, è stato ingegnosamente dotato di una saletta da pranzo con cucina, una stanza da letto, un ripostiglio e un bagno: è provvisto di finestre per ventilazione e luce, sistema idrico ed elettrico e predisposizione per l'aria condizionata.
Per meno di 8000 euro (l'obiettivo dichiarato è di scendere più in basso possibile) l'obiettivo sarà raggiunto: nel solo 2009 è prevista la produzione di 3000 unità.
Art. originale :
While out scouring the web for porn… um… er… news, I came across this little gem…
It seems that the idea of using Shipping Containers as housing is picking up steam!
Rather than recap an already good journalistic piece, I’ll just butt in from time to time, okay? Hot off the AP Wire:
CORRALES, New Mexico (AP) – It was a side trip through a destitute, ramshackle neighborhood in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, that detoured Brian McCarthy from building houses in Albuquerque to an idea to offer the very poor a chance to own a home.
His answer lies in a humble steel shipping container 40 feet long, 8 feet wide and 8½ feet tall.
See, it ain’t just moi!
McCarthy, 30, and three partners, Pablo Nava, 22; Kyle Annen, 23; and Mackenzie Bishop, 22, have made a prototype out of a standard shipping container that hauls goods worldwide — a 320-square-foot home with a kitchen, bath with toilet, sleeping areas, windows and a bright blue door. The exterior is painted with a white epoxy coating that has light-reflecting properties to prevent the sun’s heat from penetrating.
Jeez… They’re just kids! How come you have to be a kid to follow thru on such a great idea? Huh?
Each small house includes hookups for air conditioning, ventilation, electrical and water systems, and the units ideally could be set up in small communities to make accessing utilities more efficient.
The idea began to take shape several years ago, when McCarthy went to the Mexican border city on a field trip as part of an executive MBA program. He found himself impressed by the sophistication and rapid growth of industry in Juarez but shocked when the bus cut through a poor neighborhood on the way out of the city.
“We saw hundreds of homes that are made out of wood pallets and cardboard and scrap metal and scrap building material,” McCarthy said. When he questioned the bus driver, he said, ‘Well, all the people who live here work in the places you just visited.’
“It was amazing to me that in an area where there was such growth and economic prosperity, that these employees of Fortune 1000 companies were living in such poor conditions.”
With Juarez growing by 50,000 to 60,000 people a year and wages low, it was evident traditional homebuilding couldn’t respond, said McCarthy, who’d worked in various facets of building homes in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Ref. http://renaissanceronin.wordpress.com/2008/11/01/drumroll-please-welcome-the-8000-shipping-container-home/
