From afar, it looks like a sleek South Florida house splashed in white and gray hues. Impact windows outline the exterior. There’s a two-vehicle carport and an open-air terrace. A bed of river stones fill the front yard.
But if you take a closer look at the boxy home, you might see a semblance of its former life; this is a house built out of used ocean cargo containers.
For over a year, South Florida architect Asghar Fathi has been slowly building this three-story shipping container home in Davie that he and his family soon plan to move into.
Installing cabinets and appliances, he’s just adding the finishing touches to the project, which he began to show people that you can build a sustainable and economical house in the region.
“It’s a simple, straight-forward modern building,” said Fathi as he proudly gave a tour of the home at 4620 SW 55th Ave. in Davie, which dwarfs the quaint one-story bungalows on the block. “And it’s strong and durable, termite-proof, hurricane-proof.”
In recent years, fellow homeowners and developers have also jumped on the cargo home building trend, recycling former sea containers into new residences and offices.
In Jupiter, there’s a rustic two-story cargo home that serves as an Airbnb rental. In September, Miami startup Echo Tech Visions and container home developer Build Everyday Better broke ground on two affordable and environmentally friendly container homes in Miami Gardens.
Those new residences will be about 1,200 square feet, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Units will cost about $205,000.
“The innovation is finally catching up,” said Keiandra Payton, a facility manager at Echo Tech Visions. She believes the shipping container home trend is spreading because the units are easier to build in a shorter amount of time. And they’re affordable in a region where homes can top more than $300,000.
Source: SunSentinel
