Also known as “green” or “off-the grid” living, sustainable living is now spreading like wildfire as the economy wobbles and people look for “alternative” solutions for cost of living and lifestyle issues.
There has been a myriad of alternative and low cost living options available for quite a while now, especially here in the European market. Many of these options can be seen on www.modern-modular.com as well as fabprefab.com. What you’ll typically see is a modernistic type structure that is pre-assembled, or “prefab” and brought to the site and installed as a “turn-key” home. As cost per meter prices begin to rise, and “urban sprawl” continues to grow, these homes will become viable alternatives.
You’re also looking at very, very cheap energy costs on these type of homes, so coupled with our crazy economy, these present a strong alternative to the typical lifestyle.
The reason for this post, is that we just “got wind” of a new Shipping Container community that may come online sometime very soon near the loop. Do I think this will work? No… not now. In the future… heck yeah. Here’s the scoop:
As you can see from these photos, a simple Ocean Transport Shipping Container can be “turned in to” something quite amazing. In this case a luxury home with every imaginable amenity. The image below sourced from www.inhabitant.com is proof that a simple corrugated metal box can almost laughably be transformed into this.
These homes will apparently (I’ve never built one, so I don’t know for sure) cut your utility costs by more than 50%. The are sustainable in design. Low impact on the environment. They are extremely cost effective to build as they use almost all recycled materials, not including the fixtures and furnishings inside ofcourse, that part would be up to the homeowner.
If anyone knows the exact location of the proposed cluster development of container homes, please comment on here. How do you think this will be accepted within our local community? Half the cost of an equivalent house in Baneasa sounds Great!
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A whole shipping container community? That is pretty cool and something I would love to see when we get back to Bucharest. I wonder how much they cost?
From what I am hearing now it is upwards of 130,000 euros now for a pre-assembled and designed (with fixtures, no furnishings) 820 square foot unit. (I would guess this is three full size containers combined) Although I applaud the recycled materials and eye on sustainability wouldnt it make more sense for these things to be substantially cheaper? The land which was going to be used for this has since become another project so who knows on this. Too soon? Romanians don’t care about the environment? Who knows. This idea seemed great to me in “concept”, as the huge Shipping Port of Constanta is in Romania.. oh well. In the mean time check out this site for Mexico’s Container city.. it’s really interesting:
http://www.containercity.com.mx/
These prefabs can look like anything now from big metal boxes to charming country cottages. I am from LA and these things are HUGELY popular now… even giving incentives for taxes and utility buybacks
I think it’s a great idea and that society in general will be pretty accepting of them and myabe even excited about it. A 50% cut in utility costs is nothing to sneeze at!
I believe that pre-fabs were around in the UK shortly after the second world war so they certainly aren’t new, but I don’t see anything wrong with them except maybe they aren’t that pretty!
Pre-fab buildings have been around for decades. Sears used to sell homes, complete homes, in a box through its catalog. Some of those houses still exist today. It’s a wonderful idea — building in a box, and if they are ‘greener’, that’s a plus.
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