Shipping container living is on trend right now, here’s why.

This Colorado home is another example of sustainable living and upcycling at its finest. At a first glance, you would not believe it to be constructed out of seven shipping containers, even more so once you step inside.

The home has a modern, open plan aesthetic with plenty of natural light and space, plus a spiral staircase leading up to the roof with views over the city and lots of potential for a rooftop garden.

The range of advantages to this kind of alternative building is plenty. Using low cost, reclaimed materials means that shipping container living can be a more affordable and versatile building option that takes barely any time at all to construct, with the added security of being termite proof, fire resistant and virtually indestructible.

Importantly, shipping container housing leaves a smaller environmental footprint. Most building and demolition work generates huge amounts of waste that will most likely end up in landfill, causing a potential health hazard if the heavy metals find their way into the water table or waterways. The environmental impact of building with shipping containers is significantly reduced, as the heavy-gauge steel can easily be salvaged, reused and recycled instead of being sent to landfill, not to mention providing a sustainable alternative to timber - no need to be cutting down trees!

The collective choices we make in our lives have an enormous effect on the carbon footprint we leave on the earth.

With a little creativity and innovation, container houses can be customized into beautiful, eco-friendly, contemporary homes that give the containers a second life away from the shipping dock and keeping them out of landfill.

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