Just one question: why aren’t we doing this in Christchurch? Or Auckland? Or Wellington? Especially Wellington!
And when people say they are building a container house, why don’t they do something as cool as this?:
And, and, and, why in the world can’t all kids have a house with a swing that is as cool as this?
Alright. That was three questions.
Awesome pix. Would you be able to link to the original article/page so that readers can follow or find more info/pictures? Thanks.
http://www.gizmag.com/winning-micro-housing-design-nyc/25989/ is the first one. An interesting project.
And the second one can also be found on that site http://www.gizmag.com/wfh-house-by-arcgency/26410/
I looked briefly at container-based houses a while back (because they’re cool) and they were surprisingly expensive. Container’s aren’t. But the houses seem to be. I guess the container only provides the framing, and then with a lot of modification? Dunno, anyway I didn’t build a house in the end. One day.
Regarding Christchurch, I really don’t think it takes a rocket scientist to work out that we could’ve build quite a few houses in the last 2 years if we had a pro active Government — but they don’t give a toss. I’m ashamed when I see how quickly pre-fab temporary housing was slapped up in Japan (although when it comes to Japan I’m sure there’s more hidden bad stuff to the story).
I’m sure there must be a number of people in NZ doing research into container based housing right now – and yes, Erentz, the cost of modification is a real deterrent. In Wellington, there’s that bloke Ross Stevens in Owhiro Road, or Happy Valley, that has a house built from containers – 4 in total i think. Maybe 3. But, he bought them for a cheap price, and then modified them – and they ended up being moderately expensive, despite the fact they look like they haven’t been touched. I don’t have any figures on that though – although I’m sure he must have published a paper or two on it…
I had a look at the two projects and one’s from New York and the other from Denmark. Maybe you need that extreme lack of space for these ideas to come to fruition. New Zealand is still very much about growing out rather than up, its in our psyche, and the Gov aren’t exactly giving us any other options.
Christ church would be in a far better place if there was a law here stating how long an insurance company had to settle a claim, (in Aus., I think it is 6 months)there isn’t one, so all the levies have gone up but the payouts haven’t been made. (Similar situation in USA after 9/11)
Yes in Japan they built 27,000+ temporary houses by July and NZ had built 24 although the quake happened earlier. erentz why would there be bad stuff to the story in Japan? it is a much more equitable society.
Who wants to live in little boxes anyway?
Someone started building a container house in Plimmerton, on the coast past Ngati Toa Marae, before the second quarry. I haven’t been out there for ages, I’d be interested to see what they’ve done.