Architect Designs Incredible House Out Of Shipping Containers, And The Interior Is As Good As The Exterior
Living in a shipping container in the middle of the desert might not sound like everybody’s idea of fun, but wait until you see this stunning creation by London-based designer James Whitaker.
The 200-square metre house, which includes a kitchen, a living room, and three en-suite bedrooms, is made from several conjoined shipping containers set at various different angles, creating the illusion of a flower blooming in the desert or a structure more akin to another world entirely. It was designed for an unnamed film producer who has a passion for nurturing creative projects, and as you can see, it doesn’t get much more creative this this!
“Earlier this year my client in LA had some friends visiting and, having a little time to spare, they all went on a road trip to visit the client’s plot of land in Joshua Tree,” said James. “One of the friends said, “you know what would look great here?”, before opening her laptop to show everyone a picture she’d seen on the internet. The picture was of an office that I’d designed several years ago but had never been built, so the next time the client was in London he got in touch and asked to meet up.”
The home, called The Joshua Tree Residence, will be built on the client’s 90-acre plot of land in California, and construction is scheduled to begin next year. Once finished, the residence, which will be solar powered from panels on the garage roof, will offer stunning views across the surrounding landscape from the many windows and the large wooden deck. Still don’t think living in a shipping container in the desert sounds like fun?
More info: Whitaker Studio
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Share on FacebookCertainly creative and artistic, but not homely, but that's just me am more of a traditionalist when it comes to architecture!
Agreed. All of the white walls and random corridors makes it feel like some sort of insane asylum.
Load More Replies...It's pretty interesting, but the space is kinda...angled. Too tight, too many sharp corners. Also the superior windows are inside the container, they should have been at the end. Easier to be cleaned and no dust or water could have settled at the bottom of the windows, on the exterior. But a cool idea nonetheless.
Can you imagine vacuuming that place? What a nightmare!
Load More Replies...“The 200-square metre house, which includes a kitchen, a living room, and three en-suite bedrooms,“
Load More Replies...Idiotic. Good for 3D design but almost absolutely non-functional(considering the effort it would take constructing it). I'm supposed to climb over my headboard to go to bed?????
Agreed. This is more of a form over function. With a more 'traditional' design the house would have gained additional space. Maybe the flower-like design is for collecting water from occasional desert rain but it looks like it's not designed to be easy to clean.
Load More Replies...I work with shipping containers for a living. They make cramped houses and offices. If you put three inches of insulation and paneling inside, the net width is 86 inches, only 7 feet.. The ceiling is only 8 feet high without insulation or light fixtures. They are extremely difficult to torch, cut or weld. The underside of the plywood floors are coated with asphalt epoxy which is pretty nasty stuff. The exposed C-channels underneath are virtually impossible to insulate. Once you cut through the channel steel skeletal frame, the containers lose much of their structural integrity. The containers that are purchased for under $2,500 are typically banged up and warped. To get a nearly new one, expect to pay $4,000 or more, plus the cost of drayage, unloading and setting into place. Whoever built this white house must have owned a crane.
Thanks Jim. Your comments were very useful to me to quickly understand how impractical it is to build abodes with SCs.
Load More Replies...How the heck do you get in and out of that bad that's wedged into the wall?
Looks cool until you realize there's no storage, the floor plan is awkward as heck and the design is incredibly inefficient in so many ways.
No garage or driveway; looks like you gotta walk home from work out into the desert :-D
It's between Los Angeles, and San Diego (to the east): https://www.nps.gov/jotr/index.htm
Load More Replies...If I enjoyed being strapped to a gurney in a straight jacket, with Nurse Ratchet applying an electrical charge to my testicles, this would be my house.
You have to climb over the back of the headboard to get out of bed, before stumbling outdoors to find a rock that's more comfortable than those orange abominations found in the living area, and probably cooler than the all-metal container in the desert with no indication of air conditioning. It's very lovely, but it's absurd to call it a house.
It is pretty cool but I worry for the wild life and the environment around it. You can't put a house in the middle of nowhere without making new "roads". Please don't shoot the predators that will invariably come by sometimes. They were there first.
The containers at odd angles serve as some kind of skylights - but they provide a gross excess of surface area, making the whole structure vastly expensive to heat or cool. In addition, the odd angle seams they create are inevitably going to leak; rain in the desert is rare, but when it comes, it's heavy. A disaster waiting to happen...
really cool looking.. but.. bird poop. and that's the least of it.. the birds will smack right into those unexpected squares.
I don't like it. It lacks any kind of charm, and it's not even functional for all practical purposes.
My dad lives outside of Joshua tree- we saw this house the last time we were there. Looks really cool when you see out in nowhere . So unique.
Interesting.....because it clearly states in the story that it is scheduled to be built NEXT year. LOL
Load More Replies...hang on..l just read the blurb and it said it has not been built yet..the pictures sure do make it look like it has already been built..now l understand why it looks so sparse..
Ah...so those freaky orange sofas aren't real.
Load More Replies...Cutting all those containers to intersect so precisely is an art unto itself!
I understanding creative genius and this is very creative, but this wasn't me and my buddy welding and cutting out steel plates in the Arizona desert trying to make a livable space. Serious funding was infused into this project.
1968 called, they want their artsy but incomprehensible Science Fiction movie house back.
Looks like 200° in there, where's the ac unit? Good for the winter maybe, otherwise cool design.
The furniture is made out of unfinished plywood! That's not attractive, OR functional! You'll stick to it, and catch your clothes... and your skin! on it.
Much more room for tons more cats...time for more rescues.
Great. A metal and glass house IN THE MIDDLE OF A FREAKING DESERT. Did you order original recipe or extra crispy?
I love it, and the recessed windows allow a beautiful view and no immediate sunlight to cause heat problems... wow,
Love it, but how the hell do you get to the place??? I see no road.
I'm wondering how one would get in that bed that has it's foot at the window and appears to be as wide as the container....and that all appears too minimalist for me, too sterile. A kitchen would be nice and desserts flood when it rains, big time. No thanks!
Sorry, dude, but that is not a house. It is more of a museum. People have to be comfortable in their living spaces and this just looks like art for art's sake without any consideration for comfort or privacy.
Hasn't been built yet... and I doubt the construction will go smoothly, or be finished on time, or on budget. As for living with it? Completely impracticable, wasted space, un-cleanable, the list goes on...
I wouldn't wanna live in a shipping container in a freaking desert
Unfinished wood benches? Zero privacy to an open desert....overdone minimalist nightmare.
But it's not furnished. The walls and floors could be anything. I can see it working. But, yes. It its current state it might be more suitable as public space, maybe an art museum.
Brilliant. Loved how the exterior views were framed to give the illusion they were paintings hanging on the walls. the use of recycled shipping containers and making them look so clean, modern and on-trend is fantastic.
This is somebody's fantasy of a home. Maybe there will be more décor to soften it up a bit. Some plants are needed in there. If someone could afford to have a home designed and built out of shipping containers, they can afford someone to take care of it for them. Perhaps the windows are a certain type to protect from the rays and the brightness. I agree about the bed accessibility. It would have been interesting to see all of the rooms. I'm pretty sure that the design allows for runoff from rain. This is not a space that I would want to live in. It is uninviting and empty.
Beautiful, but is there any concern over the metal heating up even painted white?
I dislike the emptiness in it, nothing on walls and minimal furnishings....and I don't much care for the outside either..it should at least be overlooking a city to enjoy city lights night and a back yard to enjoy the stars...I like the idea but not the result
Bedroom doors? Bathroom doors? Love structures made from shipping containers and this one is much more imaginative than others I have seen, but the privacy issue would need to be addressed for most folks. Stellar job, though. The desert setting is perfect for this.
Sorry this is not appealing to me, not something I would want. Where are the kitchen, laundry room, dinning room and bathrooms ? Far too much white, needs some pastel color to give it character and there is a lot of wasted space with the containers jutting out everywhere. There also needs to be some carpet..........was ok to look at but I would not buy this, sorry :)
I am not fussy about this, but I am sure someone will like it Where is the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, dinning room ? The first area I look at in a home is the kitchen...I like a big roomy kitchen with lots of counter space for cooling desserts and bread ,big pantry and a medium size table for breakfast. .I am not convinced that a kitchen like that would be possible using a container. I agree that there is much too white and there is no carpet, or none that I saw . Was k to look at but not something I would want thanks :)
Interesting as "building art," but as with actually lots of architect homes going back more than a century, it doesn't actually look like a place I'd want to LIVE.
Nice idea and beautiful surroundings outside, however I find the indoors looks far too clinical and sterile to be comfortable...🤔😕💗💖
I hope those storage containers also made a road. I feel sorry for anyone who has to walk to every destination.
What is it with leaving the bath/shower area wide open without any doors? I personally go into those rooms to clean myself - and there is nothing "sexy" about a middle aged woman cleaning all her nooks and crannies.... O__O
That would be one difficult task... making that bed. As roomy as it appears, wear you want room to move, you are boxed-in. The outside is appealing, but the inside is confining.
there are many stones, if one day have a big rain , i am so afraid of them cover this house.~~
Innovative but don't you think when the lights go out when navigating through those passageways you might get hurt by those edges on the walls or ceilings?
I dont see the wisdom of making structures out of shipping containers purely for the sake of it especially in infernally hot places. The point of the shipping comtainer is that as a modular and legally transportable object one could make a home where one cannot legally build. The design had its origin in necessity, to take the idea into this territory shows a lack of understanding of the original concept or even practicality. The Architect was contracted by a client that had settled on an idea already without analysis of environment... the client is a wanker. .
Need more photos, bland and boring, one red lounge is the only colour, not my choice at all
Looks fun and creative but wouldn't want to ever get drunk in a home like this
In the desert - how will it keep cool? Painting it white won't help much and the design means that almost every external surface is open to the elements. It's going to be the biggest oven ever. I still like it though.
They spent all that money to have an uncovered plywood bed. I'm confused.
equally shity in and out, not functional and may only exist as an architectural curiosity (so people could ask themselves what drugs was the architect using when creating it) xD
Way too austere for me. I prefer warmer colors, more natural curves - like those you find in earthships - if you're going to go non-traditional.
I like the angles, and even the concept, but the interior is so boring and clinical! I guess it is to feel cooler, since it is is the desert, but it would feel more like living on the spaceship from 2001 A Space Odyssey to me. Not homey at all!
Not even that, unless it was built in zero-g. You'd never get it out of the atmosphere in that shape.
Load More Replies...The architecture is great and certainly different but quite frankly the idea of climbing over a bed head to get into and out of it does not site well with me the rooms are too narrow for bedrooms and I personally would have removed some of the wall where are the wardrobes? where is the storage space? It is just too tight for my likings.
I enjoy sleeping, eating and sitting on plywood as much as the next person... OHH wait I don't
I'm sorry, but that looks awful. It looks like you're living in a sterile laboratory. Nice art project, awful house.
Looks nice but you have to walk a lot just to get from one place to another.
It is going to be extremely loud and echo-y in there, there are so many hard angles, concrete, wallboard, and hardly any upholstery. Not to mention the complete lack of a kitchen. I did spot a single tiny closet though...
I'm not sure I'd want to live on something that looks like a bloomin onion.
We certainly need less humans in wild places. Nothing like plunking down a home in the middle of nowhere. Ugh.Not that delightful.
The funniest thing is that the architects projecting this kind of "houses" have not to live there, and will never…
And neither do you, so don't worry about it. Whoever lives there/will live there CHOOSES to live there. just cuz u don't wanna live there personally, doesn't mean no one else does. Sorry i'll stop now
Load More Replies...The house is fantastic, but he sure doesn't know how to pick a location !
No one lives there...and if they do, they don't want to. There's no storage space, the floors are concrete (the budget wouldn't extend to tile or wood? There's almost no art on the walls. For all the containers up in the air, there's not a lot of usable floor plan. One poster pointed out that there's no kitchen, I would add that there's nowhere to eat comfortably, either. Wooden benches smacked up against a plywood table? Did anyone see a faucet? I don't think so. ... Our house is Mid-Century Modern. There's not a lot of clutter. We DO have comfortable places to sit, though. .... it's an unliveable box in an unliveable desert, with no view to speak of. I'd be terrified of a rock slide - there's nothing anchoring them, after all.
I didn't see any air conditioning or heating to offset the daytime heat gains due to sun exposed metal surfaces or nighttime heat loss from the same surfaces. I also don't see any energy source so assume it uses the grid electrical supply or fossil fuel generator. Looks pretty but is probably impractical.
Artistically, its a really great piece to view from the outside, but as for the inside... There seems to be a lack of warmth in feelings instead of temperature, devoid of photos, art, pictures, etc that would give it a sense of character and being used as a home. Regrettably, its left bland and cold, with no real sense of purpose, where are the kitchen and bathrooms? Why are there no photos ? Are they even there ? Then the angular walls that jut out into the rooms seems to intrude somewhat irrationally too much for my own particular liking. Still, great to view/stay for a few days but not to live in.
Certainly creative and artistic, but not homely, but that's just me am more of a traditionalist when it comes to architecture!
Agreed. All of the white walls and random corridors makes it feel like some sort of insane asylum.
Load More Replies...It's pretty interesting, but the space is kinda...angled. Too tight, too many sharp corners. Also the superior windows are inside the container, they should have been at the end. Easier to be cleaned and no dust or water could have settled at the bottom of the windows, on the exterior. But a cool idea nonetheless.
Can you imagine vacuuming that place? What a nightmare!
Load More Replies...“The 200-square metre house, which includes a kitchen, a living room, and three en-suite bedrooms,“
Load More Replies...Idiotic. Good for 3D design but almost absolutely non-functional(considering the effort it would take constructing it). I'm supposed to climb over my headboard to go to bed?????
Agreed. This is more of a form over function. With a more 'traditional' design the house would have gained additional space. Maybe the flower-like design is for collecting water from occasional desert rain but it looks like it's not designed to be easy to clean.
Load More Replies...I work with shipping containers for a living. They make cramped houses and offices. If you put three inches of insulation and paneling inside, the net width is 86 inches, only 7 feet.. The ceiling is only 8 feet high without insulation or light fixtures. They are extremely difficult to torch, cut or weld. The underside of the plywood floors are coated with asphalt epoxy which is pretty nasty stuff. The exposed C-channels underneath are virtually impossible to insulate. Once you cut through the channel steel skeletal frame, the containers lose much of their structural integrity. The containers that are purchased for under $2,500 are typically banged up and warped. To get a nearly new one, expect to pay $4,000 or more, plus the cost of drayage, unloading and setting into place. Whoever built this white house must have owned a crane.
Thanks Jim. Your comments were very useful to me to quickly understand how impractical it is to build abodes with SCs.
Load More Replies...How the heck do you get in and out of that bad that's wedged into the wall?
Looks cool until you realize there's no storage, the floor plan is awkward as heck and the design is incredibly inefficient in so many ways.
No garage or driveway; looks like you gotta walk home from work out into the desert :-D
It's between Los Angeles, and San Diego (to the east): https://www.nps.gov/jotr/index.htm
Load More Replies...If I enjoyed being strapped to a gurney in a straight jacket, with Nurse Ratchet applying an electrical charge to my testicles, this would be my house.
You have to climb over the back of the headboard to get out of bed, before stumbling outdoors to find a rock that's more comfortable than those orange abominations found in the living area, and probably cooler than the all-metal container in the desert with no indication of air conditioning. It's very lovely, but it's absurd to call it a house.
It is pretty cool but I worry for the wild life and the environment around it. You can't put a house in the middle of nowhere without making new "roads". Please don't shoot the predators that will invariably come by sometimes. They were there first.
The containers at odd angles serve as some kind of skylights - but they provide a gross excess of surface area, making the whole structure vastly expensive to heat or cool. In addition, the odd angle seams they create are inevitably going to leak; rain in the desert is rare, but when it comes, it's heavy. A disaster waiting to happen...
really cool looking.. but.. bird poop. and that's the least of it.. the birds will smack right into those unexpected squares.
I don't like it. It lacks any kind of charm, and it's not even functional for all practical purposes.
My dad lives outside of Joshua tree- we saw this house the last time we were there. Looks really cool when you see out in nowhere . So unique.
Interesting.....because it clearly states in the story that it is scheduled to be built NEXT year. LOL
Load More Replies...hang on..l just read the blurb and it said it has not been built yet..the pictures sure do make it look like it has already been built..now l understand why it looks so sparse..
Ah...so those freaky orange sofas aren't real.
Load More Replies...Cutting all those containers to intersect so precisely is an art unto itself!
I understanding creative genius and this is very creative, but this wasn't me and my buddy welding and cutting out steel plates in the Arizona desert trying to make a livable space. Serious funding was infused into this project.
1968 called, they want their artsy but incomprehensible Science Fiction movie house back.
Looks like 200° in there, where's the ac unit? Good for the winter maybe, otherwise cool design.
The furniture is made out of unfinished plywood! That's not attractive, OR functional! You'll stick to it, and catch your clothes... and your skin! on it.
Much more room for tons more cats...time for more rescues.
Great. A metal and glass house IN THE MIDDLE OF A FREAKING DESERT. Did you order original recipe or extra crispy?
I love it, and the recessed windows allow a beautiful view and no immediate sunlight to cause heat problems... wow,
Love it, but how the hell do you get to the place??? I see no road.
I'm wondering how one would get in that bed that has it's foot at the window and appears to be as wide as the container....and that all appears too minimalist for me, too sterile. A kitchen would be nice and desserts flood when it rains, big time. No thanks!
Sorry, dude, but that is not a house. It is more of a museum. People have to be comfortable in their living spaces and this just looks like art for art's sake without any consideration for comfort or privacy.
Hasn't been built yet... and I doubt the construction will go smoothly, or be finished on time, or on budget. As for living with it? Completely impracticable, wasted space, un-cleanable, the list goes on...
I wouldn't wanna live in a shipping container in a freaking desert
Unfinished wood benches? Zero privacy to an open desert....overdone minimalist nightmare.
But it's not furnished. The walls and floors could be anything. I can see it working. But, yes. It its current state it might be more suitable as public space, maybe an art museum.
Brilliant. Loved how the exterior views were framed to give the illusion they were paintings hanging on the walls. the use of recycled shipping containers and making them look so clean, modern and on-trend is fantastic.
This is somebody's fantasy of a home. Maybe there will be more décor to soften it up a bit. Some plants are needed in there. If someone could afford to have a home designed and built out of shipping containers, they can afford someone to take care of it for them. Perhaps the windows are a certain type to protect from the rays and the brightness. I agree about the bed accessibility. It would have been interesting to see all of the rooms. I'm pretty sure that the design allows for runoff from rain. This is not a space that I would want to live in. It is uninviting and empty.
Beautiful, but is there any concern over the metal heating up even painted white?
I dislike the emptiness in it, nothing on walls and minimal furnishings....and I don't much care for the outside either..it should at least be overlooking a city to enjoy city lights night and a back yard to enjoy the stars...I like the idea but not the result
Bedroom doors? Bathroom doors? Love structures made from shipping containers and this one is much more imaginative than others I have seen, but the privacy issue would need to be addressed for most folks. Stellar job, though. The desert setting is perfect for this.
Sorry this is not appealing to me, not something I would want. Where are the kitchen, laundry room, dinning room and bathrooms ? Far too much white, needs some pastel color to give it character and there is a lot of wasted space with the containers jutting out everywhere. There also needs to be some carpet..........was ok to look at but I would not buy this, sorry :)
I am not fussy about this, but I am sure someone will like it Where is the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, dinning room ? The first area I look at in a home is the kitchen...I like a big roomy kitchen with lots of counter space for cooling desserts and bread ,big pantry and a medium size table for breakfast. .I am not convinced that a kitchen like that would be possible using a container. I agree that there is much too white and there is no carpet, or none that I saw . Was k to look at but not something I would want thanks :)
Interesting as "building art," but as with actually lots of architect homes going back more than a century, it doesn't actually look like a place I'd want to LIVE.
Nice idea and beautiful surroundings outside, however I find the indoors looks far too clinical and sterile to be comfortable...🤔😕💗💖
I hope those storage containers also made a road. I feel sorry for anyone who has to walk to every destination.
What is it with leaving the bath/shower area wide open without any doors? I personally go into those rooms to clean myself - and there is nothing "sexy" about a middle aged woman cleaning all her nooks and crannies.... O__O
That would be one difficult task... making that bed. As roomy as it appears, wear you want room to move, you are boxed-in. The outside is appealing, but the inside is confining.
there are many stones, if one day have a big rain , i am so afraid of them cover this house.~~
Innovative but don't you think when the lights go out when navigating through those passageways you might get hurt by those edges on the walls or ceilings?
I dont see the wisdom of making structures out of shipping containers purely for the sake of it especially in infernally hot places. The point of the shipping comtainer is that as a modular and legally transportable object one could make a home where one cannot legally build. The design had its origin in necessity, to take the idea into this territory shows a lack of understanding of the original concept or even practicality. The Architect was contracted by a client that had settled on an idea already without analysis of environment... the client is a wanker. .
Need more photos, bland and boring, one red lounge is the only colour, not my choice at all
Looks fun and creative but wouldn't want to ever get drunk in a home like this
In the desert - how will it keep cool? Painting it white won't help much and the design means that almost every external surface is open to the elements. It's going to be the biggest oven ever. I still like it though.
They spent all that money to have an uncovered plywood bed. I'm confused.
equally shity in and out, not functional and may only exist as an architectural curiosity (so people could ask themselves what drugs was the architect using when creating it) xD
Way too austere for me. I prefer warmer colors, more natural curves - like those you find in earthships - if you're going to go non-traditional.
I like the angles, and even the concept, but the interior is so boring and clinical! I guess it is to feel cooler, since it is is the desert, but it would feel more like living on the spaceship from 2001 A Space Odyssey to me. Not homey at all!
Not even that, unless it was built in zero-g. You'd never get it out of the atmosphere in that shape.
Load More Replies...The architecture is great and certainly different but quite frankly the idea of climbing over a bed head to get into and out of it does not site well with me the rooms are too narrow for bedrooms and I personally would have removed some of the wall where are the wardrobes? where is the storage space? It is just too tight for my likings.
I enjoy sleeping, eating and sitting on plywood as much as the next person... OHH wait I don't
I'm sorry, but that looks awful. It looks like you're living in a sterile laboratory. Nice art project, awful house.
Looks nice but you have to walk a lot just to get from one place to another.
It is going to be extremely loud and echo-y in there, there are so many hard angles, concrete, wallboard, and hardly any upholstery. Not to mention the complete lack of a kitchen. I did spot a single tiny closet though...
I'm not sure I'd want to live on something that looks like a bloomin onion.
We certainly need less humans in wild places. Nothing like plunking down a home in the middle of nowhere. Ugh.Not that delightful.
The funniest thing is that the architects projecting this kind of "houses" have not to live there, and will never…
And neither do you, so don't worry about it. Whoever lives there/will live there CHOOSES to live there. just cuz u don't wanna live there personally, doesn't mean no one else does. Sorry i'll stop now
Load More Replies...The house is fantastic, but he sure doesn't know how to pick a location !
No one lives there...and if they do, they don't want to. There's no storage space, the floors are concrete (the budget wouldn't extend to tile or wood? There's almost no art on the walls. For all the containers up in the air, there's not a lot of usable floor plan. One poster pointed out that there's no kitchen, I would add that there's nowhere to eat comfortably, either. Wooden benches smacked up against a plywood table? Did anyone see a faucet? I don't think so. ... Our house is Mid-Century Modern. There's not a lot of clutter. We DO have comfortable places to sit, though. .... it's an unliveable box in an unliveable desert, with no view to speak of. I'd be terrified of a rock slide - there's nothing anchoring them, after all.
I didn't see any air conditioning or heating to offset the daytime heat gains due to sun exposed metal surfaces or nighttime heat loss from the same surfaces. I also don't see any energy source so assume it uses the grid electrical supply or fossil fuel generator. Looks pretty but is probably impractical.
Artistically, its a really great piece to view from the outside, but as for the inside... There seems to be a lack of warmth in feelings instead of temperature, devoid of photos, art, pictures, etc that would give it a sense of character and being used as a home. Regrettably, its left bland and cold, with no real sense of purpose, where are the kitchen and bathrooms? Why are there no photos ? Are they even there ? Then the angular walls that jut out into the rooms seems to intrude somewhat irrationally too much for my own particular liking. Still, great to view/stay for a few days but not to live in.
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