Blog May 8, 2012

MRI Intermodal’s five favourite container uses

By Nicola Byers

Containers are not just used for shipping good from A to B. Over the years, they have been utilised for an array of unusual uses, such as Amsterdam’s massive Keetwonen complex shown here. Billed as the largest container city in the world, it houses 1,000 students, many of whom are happy to secure housing in the city’s tight real estate market.

Here are MRI Intermodal’s five other favourite container uses:

What looks like a rusty old shipping container from the outside turns into a posh “living space” at the touch of a button in this Quik House by Adam Kalkin.

This kind of container house is modified from standard sea container. A metal polystyrene sandwich wall and roof panels have been added along with a PVC floor covering, door and windows and a ventilation system.

What a stunning house! You wouldn’t like the folding windows to go wrong though!

This is a very high quality BizPod conversion using a 20GP shipping container and using the doors as the customer entrance with large picture windows in the front to attract customers. This is a great simple design and fits well into the tourism area near the beach.

Designed in-house by Starbucks architects, this container coffee shop in Washington is Starbucks bid to encourage green building to reduce energy usage, operational costs as well as to push the envelope on environmental retail design.