Foundation | Volume #4
+ Container Framing with Steel
+ Update: Container Framing with Steel
A few people have already asked me about the use of steel members in the containers. As with any build, there are pros and cons to the use of different materials. Why use steel and not wood? Isn’t wood cheaper? Isn’t it the preferred building material in this region?
My answer to this: well, why use shipping containers at all?
The premise of my container project is 2-fold:
- To create a comfortable, habitable structure with as few materials as possible
- To set an benchmark for the container as a building system — comparing build times, personalization, and deliverability
To specifically answer why steel members, let’s address the first part. Not only is steel impervious to fire, but it’s impervious to moisture. Because steel containers have a thin exterior panel, shifts in temperature between the interior and exterior will cause condensation. This condensation, paired with wooden members is a recipe for future maintenance and mildew mitigation in the framing and insulation. In traditional stick-built homes and exterior wood sheathing, there is an exterior moisture barrier and either stucco or some other weather resistant material that helps to protect the wooden structure from unwanted moisture. In older homes, you might notice condensation around the old single-pane windows, which cause damage to the wooden window framing over time. Imagine this happening around all the steel wall panels of your home. Not fun.
The second part is my driving motivator behind the project — learning. The concept of modular, prefab homes has been around for a century. As far back as the 1920s, people have been discussing the benefits of modular construction, finding itself in small-scale deployments before eventually be realized in a large-scale development project through military housing. From there, the concept has grown, morphed, divided, and shrunk over the last 100 years. It has been used in ways to rethink the way homes, housing developments, and even cities are constructed, with varying levels of success. To me, #cargotecture is only one subdirectory in the vast archives of modular, prefab building, but one that needs to be personally explored to understand the long-term, scalable viability of its use.
🔥 Hot Takes
Katerra TAKE OFF 2019 | Bath Kits
👏🏻 Everyone, applause! When Katerra announced Bath Kits on stage earlier this month, it was met with great fanfare. Like a page out of Steve Jobs’ early Apple Keynotes, *Bath Kits* introduces a ridiculously affordable (50% cost reductions), customizable, and complete solution for bathroom remodels or new bathrooms. As a standalone unit for new construction projects that typically start at $10,000, this is a huge step forward for modularity — turning a build into somewhat of an “advanced IKEA assembly” (don’t kill me for this over-simplification.
The only drawback? These units are for Katerra structures only — to conform to building standards and plug-in to proprietary designs. But I’m still excited. The Bath Kit is not the first of its kind — it was actually first introduced by Buckminster Fuller via the Dymaxion Project I mentioned above.
Housing: A shortage of cities
For anyone deeply interested in the impact of housing on ownership, wealth creation, and the necessity of dense, vibrant urban city centers, this is a fascinating read. It makes the case for more development in light of regulation and limitations by local governments.
The real estate transaction is broken. Tech companies want to fix it
I’m excited and fearful for what iBuyer-model will bring to real estate and homeownership in the near future. While it is a thoughtful and modern approach that solves a real estate problem for a select few (individuals that can afford the upgrade or first-home home ownership), it is inherently a selective service that alters and interferes with local real estate markets and economies. Of course, the idea of securing a line of credit for homeowners is a process currently controlled by banks, but the transfer of power in this process from banks of large tech companies doesn’t necessarily inspire an idea of improvement.
Why 2016’s Pritzker winner makes half-built houses
I love Alejandro Aravena’s work. His firm, Elemental, is known for focusing on architectural projects that reconstruct cities hit by natural disasters. His seminal work on unfinished homes in 2001 continued to develop over time throughout Chile — a concept in which he reconstructs building developments with half-built homes, allowing residents to purchase new homes and land cheaply and put in their own sweat equity to customize and increase real estate value of their own properties.
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