“Eco-Pak” expands on shipping container houses

Prototype is due to be completed in early 2013

Thanks to their size, strength and ease of transport, shipping containers have been embraced by architects who have turned them into everything from restaurants and off-grid homes, to school classrooms and modular, portable hotels. The “Eco-Pak” home doesn’t just renovate the inside of a shipping container, but uses a shipping container as an integral part of a larger building, with all the structural components contained within it so it can be delivered just about anywhere in one convenient package.

The “Eco-Pak” home is the brainchild of aircraft structural engineer James Green of Building Container LLC, who was recently granted a U.S. patent for the concept, with international patents also pending. He teamed with Seattle-based architect Matthew Coates to make his vision of a transportable, eco-friendly, low cost, structurally sound container home a reality after being tasked with designing and building a home in remote Turkey without using a conventional concrete foundation.

His idea was to include extended framework transported within the container to form the structure of the house. The original prototype was completed in Turkey using basic tools and equipment, and the team has now developed a method for producing the extended framework using automated machinery based on 2D computer drawings and 3D models.