One of the things that I really love about
Shipping container homes is the way that they can be scaled to meet the needs of those who are living within them
That is exactly the case with this small container home
Which has been constructed from for shipping containers and designed to house ten people
G'day Simon. Hi, Brice. Say going good. Mate. Great to meet you. Great to meet you too, and amazing to see your beautiful home
What a spectacular place. Thank you. Great to have you here. So first of all, why shipping containers?
It wasn't actually my idea to use shipping containers. It was our architect Malkin's idea initially
I wasn't too certainly that was gonna be the best approach for us
I thought it might have been a bit cliched and it was a bit of a trend at the time
But he saw me on the idea by just being honest
She said look if you're gonna use shipping containers you need to use them wisely
Because really all they are is just a big metal box
But there's also some limitations and that is they're not insulated
So they're cold and winter and hot in summer. They're not designed to be lived in and they have fixed dimensions
So we actually think about how we're going to use the containers. So obviously one of the big
Limitations when we are talking about a shipping container is the thermal performance which you touched on
So how did you work around that when it came to insulating the home? We decided to actually insulate the home externally
So wrap the insulation externally in the building. So there's two advantages of doing that
The first is we could actually increase the amount of bulk in the insulation
externally
So it could use more insulation to one improve that thermal performance and get a higher r-value
And the other reason is is because if it insulate internally
We're already going to further constrain an already constrained space
So by insulating externally we therefore have a really good solution for containers before we go inside
I want to talk about the exterior because you've done a very
beautiful job in cladding this home
And I really like the aesthetic that you've created where some parts the containers are masked
And in other areas, they're left exposed and a completely celebrated. Can you talk to me about that?
We wanted to express the containers externally. So we've wanted to show that they were actually built with containers
So that's why we lift the container doors on the building and that's why this part of the building here has been left exposed
The use of corrugated steel was supposed to make sure we could cover those containers in a way that had a durable lasting
Outcome so that's why I've use this it's a fairly light material and it's all been screwed down
So there's no really limited the amount of glues in this house
and what about you serve renewable energy technology in the home as the screwed connected or are you on solar so
fortunately for us when use very small amounts of energy to power this home
So the reason why that is is because I've incorporated the solar passive design so doll faces north
They have that solar gain in winter. So it warms in winter
We don't have direct sunlight heating windows because we have large eaves
So it really does work quite well, and at this stage, we haven't gone to the renewable energy
We're still looking at solutions in terms of renewable energy generation
So we've really tried to improve the energy efficiency of the building to really achieve
strong sustainable outcomes, and of course when we're talking about
Sustainability, one of the things that that does come down to in modern construction is size. Mmm right now
This is not a tiny house by any means
But it is a small house and it's designed to house a good number of individuals. Can we talk a little bit about that?
Yeah, so this house is around 95 square meters and that includes the guest studio and it also includes this main building
So this main building itself is about 80 square meters in size and it can comfortably accommodate 10 people
So that's quite I think an achievement to be able to fit ten people in a fairly small footprint
Comfortably the outside of the house looks really great
I love the balance between the containers and the cladding and I am really
Excited to see how you've tackled it on the inside. Can we check it out? Come on in. Thank you
So we really wanted to take advantage of the views
So as you walk through down this corridor, you can see through the four glass window
So you're actually getting that view past the wall and into the vegetation before us then we've also got these cutouts in this room
so that you've got this broadening of the view as you're looking down the block so you can really get that sense of
Space by actually looking through glass rather than being confronted by a block wall
You certainly do and being able to look right out amongst those trees is really quite beautiful, isn't it? Yeah. It's fantastic
So again, it's about that connection that we wanted with the natural environment so you can actually see the natural environment
you can see it change over the seasons and it really gives that strong sense of
interest and a sense of well-being but actually being able but you know if you're connected with your natural environment
Which I think we so dearly miss in our urban areas
Now so often then container homes, the very first thing that people do is try to cover them up
But I love the way that you have really celebrated their use in this house with all of these exposed container walls. Yes. Oh
Really? I mean what we wanted to do here is you wanted to express the containers internally so you could actually see what the home
was built out of we had this kind of supposed minimalist aesthetic because we wanted to make sure that we use
materials in an honest way and
That we express them in that honest way so that you could see precisely what it was built out of I think it's still built
Very beautifully, but I don't think having a fairly industrial aesthetic means it has to be cold and uninviting
I think we can design homes in a way where we use interesting materials and they can still be quite
Welcoming and the layout is very interesting to me
can you talk to me about how this was all done in terms of its solving the solution of how to actually
integrate the containers into this building what we had to think about is what spaces work well in containers and
How it can best utilize those spaces
So when you look at the floor plan, here we have what is in effect an L shape?
so the two outside edges the L form the bedrooms the
Kitchen the bathroom and the storage room and then we've had to build additional structure to link those containers
so we've got breezeways or corridors linking the containers and then we have
the larger living
dining space
which actually is situated outside the container and then we have a roof that just spans the top of all those big spaces a very
Simple roof, I think what may not be obvious is the clever use of space in this building
So where I'm standing right now is where the kids have their little breakout space
So what that does is it allows them to be separate from the main living area?
But still very much connected and how many containers went into the construction of this home
We've used three 20-foot shipping containers and one 40-foot shipping container
One of the twenty-four shipping containers is used for the guest pod and the remaining three
Containers are used here in the main house and now talk to me about the spectacular
Dining and living space because it is really nice how this has been done. Yes
So like what before we've taken advantage of the slope of the land, so this house steps down
So what we've got here is this increased ceiling height which gives a sense of volume?
so this is the largest a single room in the house and
like I said
it's about
that
oversized living space to encourage people to come in here and interact and be connected with one another rather than spending times alone in your
Bedroom in other spaces so it really is about relationships
It's about us coming down here enjoying these spaces together and being able to interact
so we really wanted to escape the trappings of everyday life and
Get away from the materialistic ways of living and get away from those distractions that I think
have a tendency to corrode our attention from one another and
It really is about us
Having the opportunity to reconnect here and so important I think in in today's
World and the way we're living that with the fragmentation of our communities
With a lack of connection with our natural world that we start thinking about how it can re-establish
these connections and I think
housing can play a key role in that and I honestly believe that good design can change the way we live and
Especially in here the use of all of the timber windows and doors is just lovely, isn't it? Yeah
This is a real luxury item here. That's our we incorporated
So these are recycled hardwood timber doors and windows from a company that's carbon positive
Which means they export more renewable energy back to the grid than they actually use in making the doors and windows and cells
What's also important to highlight here is how you can actually reduce cost by building
Cost-effective livable space so the covered deck areas
We have 40 square meters of covered decking which means you can spill out onto the deck in all types of weather
So when it's raining when it's really warm outside and that's a really cost-effective way of building additional space into the home
Really nice to see you've got the hooks there as well. Is there for a hammock it is and that's a lovely
Relaxing space for my wife so she loves to spend time and they're reading our books and enjoying that space
Fair enough - I don't think any house is quite complete until there's hammock. My wife whipped Ally agree with you
And now talk to me about what you've done here in the kitchen because it is so cool how it's almost been entirely
Framed by this container so the kitchen is actually quite oversized
we like to spend time in the kitchen and cooking and
Interacting with the kids and actually forms part of the living space as well. So I given up that interaction
It's made out of form ply which is a fairly inexpensive
Building material we tried again to really reduce the amount of material in our kitchen
So here we'll see a lot of open shelving that was done on purpose
There's the pantry which has a cupboard door and there's only four simple drawers
So it's really about trying to reduce the amount of materials in this building and keeping that minimal design aesthetic
Downside to doing that though is it does mean you have to keep your shelves tidy? It does
So as you can see here, we've spent a bit of time cleaning up for the subtractor
Well, I really like the way that you've tackled the communal areas in the house and I'm very interested to see what you've done in
The rest of the containers can we check those out? Let's have a look so
In here we've got the kids room this is a very tidy kid's room
We like to keep things clean here. We're minimalist. So
So one of the questions that I have is you've got two kids
But this area is designed to obviously sleep for children
And then you've got another guest bedroom and then you've got the guest pot outside as well
Why have you designed this house to accommodate so many people because I like to sleep in different bedrooms
personally
It's for the extended family
So we love to turn to town and have other people around and we'd like to have the extended family here
So we've got the cousins that can sleep in this bed
The guest pod was actually the in-laws guest pod
Fantastic and then next door to us here. We have the bathroom. That's right
Yeah, so here's the bathroom this room is really about giving a sense that you're in a camp science and the camping site bathroom
Because he wanted again that connection with the outdoors and I think using this mini bridge is a type of carbon steel really helps
I suppose keep that feeling that you actually are showing outside
And also even though we know I've been maybe helps for that as well
One of the things we really try to do is to limit the use of chrome in this house because it's an energy intensive
Toxic process. So here we've just used every garden taps, and we've also used copper pipes to form the tap
We're here. We've just got you know simple bolts and timber just to hang your towels on and
Really trying to keep things simple and pairing them back. And so what do we have down the other end there?
Oh now we have the master bedroom
So, this is our palatial master bedroom, that's a joke
It isn't a particularly generous bedroom by typical standards
But again, we've tried to make best use of the view
So I've got a very large
Window at the foot of the bed which again takes advantage of that beautiful vegetation at the end of the block
We've also tried again to keep a minimalist aesthetic and so running clear what's simple necessary
So here we have just a very simple
three drawers and again with its copper piping
Forming the coat hangers here for our wardrobe space so very simple and they're just as effective as any other approaches
Absolutely again, it does just mean you have to be a little bit tidier
That's right. You do now. I'm really interested to see what you've done with the 20-foot container and the guest pod
Can we check that out? Yeah, we'll go see the granny flat right now. Let's do it. I
Really like what you've done out here as well with the water tank and the outdoor shower, that's a nice touch
Oh, yeah
That's one of the most luxurious items we have here to have a warm outdoor shower after being to the beach being out sighs
Fantastic, nothing like it
So this is the guest pod so we have people stay for extended stays they can stay up here
But there's still that lovely connection with the main house. So we've got a deck area down here
We've got some informal deck seating up here when you actually sit down this informal seating here
You can still see the view down to the end of the blocks
You've got that still that lovely connection with that vegetation and the natural environment that surrounds us
Absolutely, and it really is quite a lovely spot here. I really like how the property backs onto the forest
You're you're quite lucky with that, aren't you?
Yeah
I mean
that's why we bought this block because we could take advantage of that beautiful forest and vegetation down there and
it's a fantastic place to be up here to just these informal decked areas that just allows you to relax and unwind
And and just enjoy the simple life really so important. Yeah. Should we check out inside the pod? Let's go
Again this is lovely and
Really nice honoring of the shipping containers in here again
Yeah
So I think what instantly hits you and you're walking to this guest pod is the amount of natural light filtering into this room
That's really helped by the fact that we actually decided to paint the container walls white
well
it really is just nice to lift this space and give it that little bit of extra light and it is and I think that's
what it's done and I think it's a beautiful amount of light here as you can see, but again,
We've utilized the views to the forest and to the vegetation below that again with these large windows
You can see now that the container doors act as shutters making
Shade the windows and they can also lock it up when we're not here
And so the guest pod really consists of a bedroom and a bathroom
one of the things that you mentioned earlier is that
Affordability was a big part of what you were aiming for within this building
Can you talk to me about the cost that was involved in realizing the structure?
so to build the house have just gone through in this guest spot had a contract price of
319,000 the actual cost was three hundred and fifty thousand dollars so that may seem like a lot to people but we have
Built in the same way that 99% of people build we had to contractor builder
We have to build to the Australian building standards and quality
standards and means you have to get this structure approved and I think the fact that it also accommodates ten people and
I think the energy efficiency and the quality of the finishing of this building the clever architectural nature of this building
I think we've got pretty good value and I think this for us personally has
Taught us that we can live in a simpler way with less a more meaningful way of living and a more rewarding way of living
in a way that you know encourages interaction with one another and
Well, I couldn't agree more with that. I think this is a home that you should be really proud of
you've done a beautiful job in both the aesthetic and the
Function of the home and you've created a wonderful space for you and your family
Thank you so much for sharing it with me mate. Cheers. Thanks braless the design of this home is so clever
I love the sustainability story the use of
Materials and all of the thought that has gone into how to make the spaces work
This is a home with a relatively small footprint, but it's designed to comfortably accommodate
10 people which I think is remarkable and what I really like about it is the clever use of
Division the way that the containers have been used to individually
Encapsulate spaces while then creating this wonderful communal living area in the center
ultimately, what it comes down to is really thinking through design that works for human beings that live in the house and that is exactly
What Simon has done here?
You