CARGO1: Housing for the Working Homeless

Sustainable shipping container architecture is beneficial and helpful in theory, but is it as easy as it seems? Renovation, structure, and living quality are all big factors contributing to the downsides of most shipping container homes; however, when compared to the materials, cost, and potential, the pros outweigh the cons. Shipping containers can provide a temporary, comfortable, and adequate living environment that is not only safe, but cost effective, environmentally friendly, and easily transportable. In addition, they are ideal when it comes to providing housing after disasters have taken place. My name is Owen Ha and I have reimagined affordable housing for the working homeless. I am 18 and currently a graduating senior at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, Ohio, off to college this fall and looking forward to sharing my idea for this student design challenge.

In Cleveland, homelessness is a growing dilemma and although it may not be as widespread as in other cities around the country it is still an ongoing issue that the city continues to grapple with. Cleveland in particular has numerous programs helping the homeless, but not much geared toward those that are working and not living in adequate housing. Many people are living out of their automobiles or living in tents trying to work, often times trying to provide for a family as well. In America alone, upwards of 800,000 people are experiencing employed homelessness. I want to dramatically reduce this statistic, thus I created CARGO1, a six-month work/live program dedicated to getting the working homeless into a more permanent living situation in any place, at any time, for anyone.

For my design, I created and am submitting a physical prototype of what one of these temporary work/live communities could look like. I am also including my original Autodesk software design along with a mock brochure I designed for CARGO1.

In order to first accomplish this idea, research was undertaken to determine whether or not this would work. Based on the research, parking lots close to community centers, shelters, and/or companies willing to support this type of program are ideal places for these communities to be set up. Being that shipping containers are made to transport easily, trucks and cranes can easily have them delivered to parking lots and built quickly. After looking up standard parking lot dimensions I made a scale model on TinkerCAD.

As excited as I was about this idea, I had to make sure it worked structurally, financially, and logistically before I went any further with my design. Peter DeMaria, chief design officer at KTGY Architecture + Planning describes shipping containers as, “steel modules that have the potential to radically transform modular housing” and I couldn't agree more. Architects have been “transforming” and using shipping containers in their architecture since the 1960’s; due to the fact that they are sturdy, large, and easily transportable. Furthermore, there are thousands of decommissioned containers available at any given time, making them relatively cheap and easily accessible.

Although a permanent shipping container home might cost upwards of $100,000, my idea for a temporary living renovation would cost approximately $10,000 and are quick to construct. Buildings with used container materials can reduce costs up to 50%. In order to fund CARGO1, a nonprofit temporary housing program, I would solicit funding from donations and try to secure a federal grant. Most homeless shelters can be awarded up to $500,000 in federal grants, with a total of over $8.3 billion allotted by the government to help the homeless.

The construction schedule is relatively fast since the construction system utilizes mainly a bolt and welding system, so most contractors can renovate an entire container from a box to a home in just two or three weeks. Container homes are modular and stackable as well. That being said, when coupled with the durable weather-protective steel, normally stronger than most traditional homes, shipping containers are the ideal building blocks for a quick and temporary home or building.

Understandably, not all agree that containers are good for dwelling, they are designed for freight, not people. They are covered in toxic paint, become solar cookers in the sun, and have specific structural requirements. However, even with all these cons, recycling and repurposing surplus containers are a great use of existing resources that can be made into comfortable and self-sufficient temporary housing with very minimal amount of work. Likewise, all the problems can be solved and are in no way detrimental to the design, construction, or living experience. Another point argued is that the second you don’t stack the containers on their corners, the structure that is built into the containers needs to be duplicated with heavy steel reinforcing. However, two containers melted down and rolled and formed could have been up-cycled into 2,095 8' long steel studs, which could easily reinforce and give the necessary structural support to another shipping container being renovated into a home. Therefore, these container homes are using only the resources and materials they are made up of, truly making them recyclable, affordable, and structurally sound. With the engineering, construction, and architecture generally approved and taken care of, it was time for me to have a little fun and bring my idea to life.

Having everything set to go, it was now time to build on the CARGO1 idea. Although totally changeable, the main concept was that each container would house more than one person. The standard design I decided on is very similar to my soon to be living situation, a college dorm. Full of plenty of storage, a bed, a desk, and windows; these would make perfect temporary houses. Obviously, heating/cooling, electricity and solar panels, and proper ventilation would all be accounted for (all this information can be found in the brochure in step 6). The bathroom situation would be also be structured like college, with a container dedicated to being a communal bathroom.

In order to make the physical model I had in mind, I had to start flat. I first used TinkerCAD to layout a complete container and then drew all the lines and details as vectors on Inkscape (a free vector drawing software). Next, I had to design enough of each piece for each container. While attending a virtual Q/A webinar through Autodesk about the Make it Modular scholarship, I asked how many containers we could use and the answer was as many as we wanted. I immediately knew I wanted more than one so I settled on eight. Plus, with my design being completely modular, I wanted it to be stackable or shaped in anyway; just like shipping container LEGO's.

After having them all vectorized and ready for cutting and engraving on a laser cutting machine, all that was left do was wait for it all to print. Using my school's material (.25" mdf) and equipment I was able to access the necessary wood to create the physical model.

The last part of my modular prototype was to put together all the pieces I printed out. This step took lots of time and lots of wood glue. As shown in each picture, I used standard wood glue to put all the basic containers together, then created interiors for every single one complete with: two beds (made by gluing five same size pieces together), two desks (three pieces glued together), shelves, windows (plastic covering I cut to size and super glued on the inside), and lights (I found small LED's and used velcro tape to keep them in place). I left the fronts open on four of the containers and the tops open on the other four in order to provide different project views. My favorite part was then getting to stack them the way I wanted, turn on the lights, set up the custom people and tables, and string a simple LED wire across the top. Another small but noticeable detail was the stair design to access the second and third floor rooms. Those can be seen in the picture above without railings, however if brought to life they would have railings and balconies. Overall, I used the flat TinkerCAD design to scale everything to each other, drew out every single piece flat, had my design cut out on quarter inch mdf, and glued it together. Planning and drawing each piece took a good amount of time and as long as I made sure they were all ok in relation to each other and followed the exact measurements needed it worked out pretty well.

The final part of my design is a brochure. I am aware it isn't the most important part of the design, but I really wanted something to explain in detail what I was trying to accomplish for the design challenge. I included many details and tried to align it as closely to real-world as possible. It is worth a read to grasp the idea of CARGO1 along with answering many questions, such as how people are chosen to live in these communities and why the company exists.

In conclusion, I aimed to provide a temporary, modular, and reimagined living environment for the working homeless in any community needed. In other words, CARGO1 repurposes shipping containers to provide interim housing as well as a pathway to securing a permanent housing future.

Thank you for considering my physical prototype for the Make it Modular student design challenge!