College Dorm Housing- From Shipping Containers

Hi, I'm Renee Du and I am an upcoming senior at Rancho Cucamonga High School in California! For this contest, I decided to design affordable housing for college students by creating a dormitory from shipping containers. This was my first time using Tinkercad or any Autodesk software. I decided to enter this contest to help me better understand design and planning as I am seriously interested in pursuing architecture as my future major.

The goal of this project is to make college housing more affordable, which allows students from lower income backgrounds access to more college options. By recycling shipping containers, we prevent waste and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as lower construction costs, which makes these college dormitories more affordable and sustainable.

Colleges often find themselves with more students than rooms available- these modular buildings solve those issues, especially since they can be assembled much more quickly than traditional structures, and in multiples, depending on how many people need housing. Although the original intention is for students, this building can also be repurposed or quickly constructed as emergency housing for refugees or can serve as a quarantine area in the time of COVID-19.

I sketched out a floorpan for my dorm. I decided on 2 floors, created by stacking the shipping containers, to reduce the amount of space used. I decided to keep the structure simple so it could be easily constructed.

For the interior, I asked my older brother, a college student, about what his dorm room included and based it off of his experiences, which is why there is a communal kitchen and bathroom (on the 2nd floor), as well as a desk, chair, and drawer for each person and a bunk bed in each room. I added another bathroom on the first floor.

I scaled this model to be 9mm for 1 ft. I chose a neutral color for a modern, calm look for the shipping container and duplicated it, arranging them in the layout of my floorpan. I cut out holes to add the doors and windows. I used realistic dimensions; for example, the standard size of a door is 3 ft by 6”8 ft so I converted this to mm.

In order to make the interior realistic, I researched the standard dimensions for basically all the furniture I created and sketched it out to make it clearer for me to create. The bunk bed, desk and chair, drawer, and sliding glass door (used for the communal area on the 2nd floor) are depicted above.

I created the stalls, toilet and toilet paper, sink & faucets, and mirrors, which were composed of several different shapes.

Here is the top view of the 1st floor, where you can see the bunk bed, two drawers, and two desk and chairs in each room, and the bathroom. The doors open inwards so they don't block pathways or obstruct the flow of movement.

Here, there is a kitchen, sitting area, dining table, and a bathroom. In the original floorplan, I had the oven right next to the fridge, but then I realized that would potentially mess with the fridge's temperature, so I widened the distance between them. The bathroom first opens to the area with sink, and another door leads to the shower and toilet area.

*I created every element except for the couch, which was available on Tinkercad as a free shape

The concept of this coffee table in the communal area is to be foldable so it can be set aside in order to save space.

I made the staircase by rotating a shipping container. Then, I cut the edges off and cut out a section of the side wall for a glass panel which allows for natural lighting. Although enclosing the staircase wasn't absolutely essential, it adds a unique, modern element to the design and improves the overall aesthetic, which positively influences how people think and feel towards this building.

This balcony is connected to the communal area, and is accessible by a sliding glass door which saves space compared to a normal door while also allowing for natural light.

The shade screen is made out of the shipping container walls. Figuring out these measurements was one of the most difficult parts of this project.

First, I designed on paper a square design. Then I calculated how many square designs I could fit on a panel, which came to be 4x2. For the design, I had to calculate the size of the cut outs in between the lines and make sure it was symmetrical and aligned. To make calculations simpler, I broke each part of my design into a separate section and found the measurements for each section.

Then, I digitally created the cutouts for one square, copy and pasted the design in the 4x2 formation, then pasted it over the shipping container panel. There were a total of 177 shapes for each screen.

To access the 2nd floor rooms, I created a balcony walkway. I repurposed the shade screens I made for the balcony into fencing, offset with alternating sections of more traditional railing.

On this floor, there is the balcony areas, communal area with a dining table, kitchen, and a bathroom, and two dorm rooms.

Throughout the process of this project, I've definitely developed my proficiency with Tinkercad as well as improved my architectural thinking process, from brainstorming to actually developing the design. I also enjoyed seeing the creations of other entries in this contest; I noticed several different approaches and aspects of creating a structure and their explanations gave me insight into their thinking process.

Overall, the building I created offers affordable college housing, which is important for expanding educational opportunities for students, while also reducing waste. Additionally, this living space can be used for anyone in need of shelter, including refugees from natural disasters, homeless, or even as a quarantine space. Thank you for this opportunity and for your time, I hope you appreciate this submission!