A Readaptive Use of Shipping Containers

for Modular Housing

Wednesday, March 01, 2006Date:

Henry Rock, Principal | ComLoc, Corp. Presented by:

City of Newark Central Planning

Department of Economic & Housing Development

Presented to:

Concept

ComLoc, Corp., a real estate venture firm working in collaboration with the architectural & design firm LOT-EK, proposes building single family homes using ISO intermodal shipping containers.

ComLoc intends to introduce this housing on an infill basis in urban areas under the brand name ZipHouse™; targeting young urban professionals and persons in need of LiveWork space. These homes will employ cutting edge design and “Green” or eco-friendly building techniques and materials.

The following proposal lays out the case for the use of this technology, how the system will be deployed and its rationale.

The goals of this project are threefold:

Provide affordable yet quality housing (an ever-increasing requirement in urban America).

Use cutting-edge technologies and design.

Recycle discarded shipping containers, which are ubiquitous throughout the country’s port cities.

Aid in meeting some of urban municipalities more challenging land use issues

Goals

Objectives

Sustainable development, mitigating potential economic & environmental impacts

Low product delivery costs to drive housing affordability

Use eco-friendly building techniques &materials

Use advanced modular construction techniques

Unit adaptability & versatilityImplement functional contemporary design

Quick product delivery to bring units on-line sooner

Demonstrate the technology’s viability

Technology: The ISO Shipping Container Industry

ISO shipping containers, also referred to as intermodal containers, are used to transport freight. These containers are designed for transportation by multiple modes: such as ship and rail, or rail and truck. These freight containers conform to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) container manufacturing standards.

Dry ISO containers are general purpose, totally enclosed, rectangular steel framework box type containers, with 14 gauge steel walls and treated wood flooring, are used for general purpose transportation. Standard heights for dry containers are 8 feet 6 inches. Dry containers are also manufactured with extended heights of 9 feet 6 inches, and are referred to as high cube containers.

Background

ISO containers are manufactured in standard sizes with the reference size a Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit (TEU). A container of 1 TEU measures 20 feet in length. The length the most common container is the 40 footer, which carries on average about 22 tons of cargo.

Each year, about 1.5 million TEU worth of containers are manufactured. The global inventory of containers was estimated to be around 15.9 million TEU by 2002, of which 15.1 million were maritime containers. A standard 20 footer container costs about $2,000 and a 40 footer about $4,000.

The ISO Shipping Container Industry

It is estimated that the global container population is approaching 16m TEU, with a projected rate of growth of 8.5% per year for the next 10 years, and there are approximately 2.5+m TEU empty boxes currently sitting idle in yards and depots around the world.

Due to the imbalance of trade associated with China, in particular, the largest manufacturer of ISO containers, a significant number of containers do not make the return leg to China, thus end up being stacked within our port cities.

While the average useful life of a container for shipping purposes is approximately 13 years, a significant number of old, broken, and obsolete containers are scrapped at the end of their useful life, about 300,000 to 500,000 containers experience an afterlife. A portion of these containers are converted into storage space, offices and homes.

The ISO Shipping Container Industry

According to a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection study of Brownfields, “Container mountains” have become a prominent feature of the port district skyline. These are the stacks of hundreds of empty containers, up to seven high, which have been created on large swaths of land near the port. This study estimates that 400 acres are now devoted to long-term storage of containers.

There are several architect/designers, throughout the world, including LOT-EK, have innovated the use of this technology for housing.

The containers, made of steel or aluminum, are designed to support extreme loads. They may be assembled in a variety of configurations, like building blocks, meeting specific site or community requirements.

They can provide secure space, support second floors and roofs, bridge uneven grades and generally establish the structural foundations for a successful building at costs well below conventional construction. They also allow for the use of unskilled or semi-skilled labor for build-out.

Heretofore, most container habitat development activity has been as one-off prefab/modular projects for individual architectural clients.

Technology: Containers as housing

Why Use Shipping Containers as Housing vs. Traditional Construction Technologies?

A need for innovation in building materials and methods

A Material Perspective – Containers offer several specific benefits:

availability [container units are ubiquitous]

economy [retired container units can be had for little or nothing]

malleability [can be modified in ways only limited by creativity]

durability [container units are virtually indestructible, and a far more durable than standard building materials]

portability [can be moved, carted and easily stored until needed]

modularity/stackable [can configured in any number of ways]

reusable [container units are imminently recyclable]

transformable [2-3 units is all it takes to create a very suitable home]

A Construction Perspective –

Low Structural Cost - High Strength: Shipping containers offer tremendous structural strength for a fraction of the cost of traditional timber steel and concrete constructions. Because all the strength is contained in the structural elements themselves, foundation design is simpler and less expensive.

Small Footprint - Large Living Area: This construction technique is ideal for single, as well as, multifamily dwellings, offering a large usable area in a small footprint.

Why Shipping Containers?

Short Construction Time: ZipHouse™ can be delivered, from order to finished product, within approximately 90 days [the requested finishing and availability of components and materials will adjust the range].

Refrabrication: Once the containers are in place, they provide the foundation and framework for the bulk of the construction. The rest of the work can be tailored to make best use of local methods and procedures –whether all prefabricated and just assembled in the field, or built conventionally on site. Because the ZipHouse™ is a loose modular system, no effort is wasted in trying to make pieces fit together in the field that work better in a controlled environment of the factory.

Why Shipping Containers?

• PHASE I: Construct a prototype/model of ZipHouse™ based on the LOT-EK Container Home Kit (CHK) design, in an area of the city designated suitable for 6-8 homes. This model will make use of a total of eight 40’ containers –stacked 4 over 4, with a cut-away for an atrium, yielding approximately 2000 sq.ft.

• PHASE II: Construct a series of eight to ten, detached single-family ZipHouse™ homes using anywhere from two to eight containers each, within a 6 month window.

Project overview

We have identified two primary residential user targets:

Live/work space for dual use applications: The growth of live/work dual-use properties in some countries, like the UK for example, has closely followed the growth in home working. Typically live/work accommodations are for those who need more than a room in a house in order to work from home. This can either be because of the nature of the business (e.g. textile design, photography, web design), or because the business proprietor uses staff/associates and finds a normal home inappropriate for this use.

Target

• In urban areas, live/work users are predominantly single people.

• Anecdotal evidence suggests that those needing larger premises for family reasons usually move on, rather than stop using the unit for work.

• There are also many examples of live/workers wanting to use their unit for work only, finding a home to live in elsewhere, once their business is better established.

• In urban settings, live/work is usually a transitional arrangement.

• The best schemes retain live/work functions for future owners/tenants once the first group has moved on.

Live/work space

Generally, city planners appear to support the concept of live/work, because it is in line with the idea of transport reduction and because it offers a way of regenerating run down commercial or industrial areas, while providing or retaining economic activity rather than creating purely residential areas. The residential element anchors a service economy while business use supports/grows the local economy. In many cases a distinctive sense of community also results.

Live/work space

An current example is in Jersey City – the Warehouse Historic District (now known as WALDO) consists of eight blocks located between the City’s booming Waterfront Financial District and the Historic Downtown residential district.

In 1996, the Planning Board and the City Council passed a Warehouse District ordinance that stated in part:

To establish an artists’ settlement in the warehouse district in Downtown, where artists may work and live in the same space, and where the arts can flourish and serve to unite the new neighborhoods of the waterfront with the established, historic neighborhoods surrounding the WALDO district. This district will also serve to provide a cultural center for the City of Jersey City, and will contain a mix of uses to provide a lively street presence of shops, art galleries, performance space and restaurants.

Live/work space

Young urban professionals: Newark, is transitioning through the declinestage of the neighborhood life cycle, being experienced by most American cities and is entering the revitalization stage, which is marked by the attraction of new, young and upwardly mobile professionals back to the urban core.

Target

Location

This technology can easily be adapted to industrial areas of the city. To that end, ComLoc has identified several possible neighborhoods within the City of Newark’s redevelopment plan, for the location of the proposed development project:

• South Broad Street

• North Broadway

• Lower Roseville

• Riverfront East

• Lincoln Park Arts Corridor

• University Heights Science Park

Stagnant industrial areas in need of development

Live/Work areas

Urban Professional area

Design

LOT-EK has innovated trendy & economical designs, that are good executions of exploiting the beauty of basic, commoditized, industrial materials.

Economies are found in the recycling of the structural material, non-conventional construction, by not adding exterior facings, and limiting the range of options.

The design used for the ZipHouse™ is the Container Home Kit (CHK), where consumer has the benefit of affordability and great design without sacrificing quality.

ZipHouse™ - Container Home Kit (CHK) Design

The ZipHouse™ uses the Container Home Kit (CHK) design which combines multiple shipping containers to build unique homes. Conceived as a kit of parts, the basic unit, a 40-foot-long shipping container, is transformed into an expandable module. Sections of its corrugated metal walls can be cut out without compromising its structural integrity. The resulting openings can be used to join containers side by side to make up larger spaces, or for vertical connections.

The ZipHouse™ will be available in two lines: Compact and Loft, in configurations that range from 2 to 4 bedrooms using 4 to 8 containers. The houses are positioned on site on 2 parallel strips of concrete that can also be used for pedestrian, as well as, car access through the lot.

A modular construction/building system, like that used for the ZipHouse™ can result in customer prices starting at approximately $90/sqft.* Further, customers can set the price/cost of these homes depending on materials, appointments, fixtures and finishes. * not including land acquisition costs

ZipHouse™ - Container Home Kit Design

ZipHouse™ - Container Home Kit (CHK) Design: Compact

ZipHouse™ - Container Home Kit (CHK) Design

ZipHouse™ - Container Home Kit (CHK) Design: Loft

ZipHouse™ - Container Home Kit (CHK) Design

Process

The process for the construction of the ZipHouse™ prototype/model will employ some of the advantages of pre-fabrication and modular building versus the standards of on-site building.

With the use of pre-fabricated containers as both structure and shell, we eliminate the need for framing and the installation of exterior walls. With the manipulation of these boxes, as building blocks, we’re able to come up with an array of configurations.

Once the pre-fabricated (retrofitting/reinforcing) boxes arrive at the location, the process of assembly, connections/installation, and finishing can be done on-site.

Our suggestion, especially for Phase II, is that a pre-fabrication operation, as well as the other associated on-site operations make use of locally trained and employed labor. We believe that this will have a decided impact on the community’s acceptance of this product and technology.

Process

It’s ComLoc’s intention to employ leading-edge green building practices, as implemented in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System in it’s design and construction of the ZipHouse™.

Further, ComLoc will look to use technologies that will allow for the ZipHouse™ to make use of self-contained energy sourcing, including PV and passive solar panels and coatings, as well as, vertical axis wind turbines.

Surveying

Remediation

Demolition

Clearing

Grading/Leveling

Infrastructure

Site Prep

Engineering

Preparation

Modifications

Box Retrofit

Reinforcement

Fabrication

Transport Prep

City Coordination

Hauling

Hoist & Crane

Logistics

Securing

Joining & Fittings

Assembly

Electrical

Plumbing

HVAC

Insulation

Connections

Windows & Doors

Walls & Partitions

Kitchen & Bath

Flooring

Coatings

Weatherproof

Pave & Landscape

Finishing

Process

Fast-track

Site PrepBox

FabricationLogistics &

Transportation

Assembly & Installation

Finishing &Sealing

System Connections

Design &Conceptual Plan

Inspection& Evaluation

20 days

30 days

45 days

7 days 7 days 2 days7-10 days

Process

30 days (eval)

How Can Newark Help?

Assistance in land acquisition and assembly [Phase II].

Aid in identifying environmental impact and mitigation measures.

Facilitate the dissemination of information.

Facilitate the process by providing priority processing of approvals & permits.

Create encouraging regulatory framework & guidelines.

Identify specific sites w/in target districts. Provide city-owned site(s) for demonstration.

Capacity

1. Over 20 years of experience in business management, project management, marketing management and securing corporate sponsorships and underwriting.

2. Extensive architectural design and engineering experience.

3. Leader in container building design innovation for over 13 years.

4. Dedication and commitment to affordable housing and sustainable development.

Why the team of ComLoc and LOT-Ek?

Collaborations

In addition to our work with the City of Newark, we will look to create collaborations with the following :

New Jersey Institute of Technology’s – Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering & School of Architecture

New Jersey’s Department of Consumer Affairs – Office of Smart Growth

Rutgers – Newark

New Jersey Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council

The Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH)

RationaleAddress city’s need to continue to develop as a dynamic urban center,

as well as, improve neighborhoods through sustainable and eco-friendlydevelopment

Need for quality, affordable live/work housing

Need to lure young professionals back to urban core with unique & trendy design executions

Need to address the stockpiling of excess shipping containers

Implement current advancements in product design, materiel, andbuilding/construction techniques, adjusting the impact of cost, quality and sustainability.

Newark can be a magnet for planners, developers, architects and engineers from throughout the world evaluating the viability of this technology.

Next Steps

City Planning concept approvals

Site acquisition

Project refinements

Develop budget & schedule

Explore financing options

Establish collaborations