Next on the tour stop was Drake Village and Public School where we chatted to the kids about their experiences during the recent bushfires. The kids told us stories of being evacuated and losing property and possessions in the fires. 
We handed out LEGO sets to all the kids who were affected. Drake Village was heavily impacted by both the Long Gully and Bangala Creek fires. The village was threatened on several occasions forcing the closure of the school and widespread evacuations. Over 85 homes were lost as a result and countless property damage experienced. The LEGO helped to put a smile back on these kids faces.

This is just the first roll-out of our Community Support program with more visits into communities scheduled in the coming weeks.
Come back here to read more about it...
​Stay well

Esperanza Farmworker Housing - 1990's
One of the first documented projects to use shipping containers for community housing is Esperanza Farmworker Housing in Mattawa, Washington in the United States of America. Considered to be ground-breaking, it was constructed and operated by the local housing authority of Grant County in the 1990s. The community was made up of 26 converted 40 foot shipping containers. These containers were transformed into housing units with the inclusion of windows, air-conditioning and heating. Kitchen and bathroom facilities were also installed. This provided 240 beds for seasonal farm workers.
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The cyclic influx of migrant workers requiring housing was overwhelming small agricultural communities in the USA, often resulting in the lack of accessible safe and affordable housing. Each year hundreds of itinerant workers and their families resort to camping illegally, creating serious health and safety risks. Esperanza was one of the first developments to address the shortage of seasonal farmworker housing in rural USA. The container homes have since been removed to make way for new, updated buildings and site amenities.

Future Shack - 1984
Australian architect, Sean Godsell, claims to have designed one of the first repurposed shipping container houses in 1984, which he titled Future Shack, for use as emergency shelter. It was intended to be mass produced and stockpiled for deployment in natural disasters or times of conflict. Godsell believes that architects have social responsibilities and designed the Future Shack to respond to this obligation.

The building is designed around the shell of a shipping container with very little alteration made to the exterior of the original container. The interior is lined with plywood and features in-built furniture. Future Shack is entirely self-contained, packed with solar power, water tanks and even a satellite receiver. The design is simple and efficient, using minimal materials to allow for mass production, ease of deployment and affordability.
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​Tempohousing - 2006
Tempohousing in The Netherlands are considered pioneers in the field of container housing. What initially began as a means to address a student housing shortage in Amsterdam, Tempohousing has now expanded into new territories including hotels and social housing. They have completed several successful large scale projects including Keetwonen, the largest container community in the world. Their student housing developments are ideal examples of successful containerised accommodation models.

Keetwonen was completed in 2006 and was originally built as a temporary housing experiment. In acknowledgement of its success, Amsterdam authorities granted the development permanent status in 2011. Keetwonen’s extraordinary success has captivated both architects and housing organisations around the globe who are looking for inexpensive solutions to address deficiencies in housing provision.

The Keetwonen project consists of twelve separate accommodation blocks. Each block consists of individual container units arranged in stacks of five high and varying in lengths to accommodate a total of 1034 modules. The development also houses a supermarket, café, launderette, office spaces and even a basketball field.

Richardson’s Yard - 2013
Brighton Housing Trust in the United Kingdom has established a housing project on a vacant lot of land with the aim to provide temporary accommodation to some of the city’s homeless. The development, shown during construction phase in the image, consists of 36 shipping container homes placed on a former scrap metal yard, known as Richardson’s Yard. Andy Winter, CEO of Brighton Housing Trust, understands that some people will have reservations about the idea of housing people in containers. The concept can invoke images of people being transported in appalling conditions by people traffickers or being held in overcrowded warehouses. Winter initially thought the idea was an April fool’s joke and that “…we had lost all concept of decency” but soon altered his standpoint once he considered how it could transform people’s lives. The people being housed in the units also find the idea of being self-contained much more desirable than the sharing of facilities in sheltered accommodation or share houses.

After some initial teething problems concerning anti-social behaviour and effective insulation, the project has been declared as remarkably successful. Winter believes that this type of housing could be more widely used to address housing affordability issues including using them as starter flats for young people, “We’re all on a housing journey. For some people, having their own place with their own front door is a great first step” (Winter 2015).

​Oneesan Container Housing Project - 2014
CEO of Canada’s Atira Women’s Resource Society, Janice Abbott, always maintained conviction regarding the concept of utilising upcycled containers and declares that their project proves "how liveable small spaces can be". The agency studied the cost of container housing and believed it to be cheaper and faster in terms of construction, as well as environmentally friendly.

The Oneesan project in Vancouver was created as a housing prototype and accommodates twelve women in twelve containers on three levels. It is an outstanding example of a container community and has won acclaim from both the community and industry for its innovation and sustainability including an International Best Practice Award for Innovation in Housing. The Oneesan project was Canada’s first development of recycled shipping containers and the residences are so popular that additional developments are already in the pipeline, including the tallest container-housing complex in North America. Atira’s strong social values have made them leaders in the area of social innovation. Atira acknowledges that by being the first and now to be the tallest has aided in raising the profile of their organisation. 

Onagawa Temporary Housing Project - 2011
Shigeru Ban has made considerable works exploring temporary housing, addressing humanitarian relief and designed the Onagawa Temporary Housing Project in Miyagi, Japan in 2011 after the country's devastating earthquake.

The interim housing development is made up of repurposed shipping containers. Containers were chosen by Shigeru Ban for this application to speed construction. These were stacked three stories high and assembled in a chequerboard pattern. This arrangement enabled the creation of open and airy living spaces in between the containers and offered outstanding seismic performance. Shigeru Ban considered the standard government issued temporary housing to be inadequate and insufficient so conceived the idea of the container housing to counter this failure. He expected this style of housing to become a precedent and translate into an improvement in Japan’s delivery of evacuation facilities and temporary housing therefore developing new government standards. Consistent with my own convictions, Ban also believes that this form of housing doesn’t need to be temporary and can certainly be used for permanent residences. 

This concludes part two - in the next installment I will examine the down side to containerised dwellings and why they suffer from a bit of an identity crisis.

​Thanks for reading!

This week I launched our new crowdfunding campaign. Tiny Homes for the Homeless, including Bushfire victims.

Bushfires are raging across the entire country. These Bushfires are creating a whole new homeless. At Container of Dreams we are very concerned about all the people who have lost their homes. Already more than 700 homes have perished in these devastating fires. As I write this I hear even more homes have been lost in the Blue Mountains. And it's only the beginning....

I can no longer sit around and do nothing, I have a sense of community and a sense of right and wrong. Right is to help your fellow man/woman. Wrong is to do nothing - absolutely NOTHING AT ALL.

​That is why I have started this campaign, to do something more than just "thoughts and prayers".

I have been personally impacted by these fires. The community where I live was the first to experience the unprecedented conditions when the first fires of this season started in September at the Long Gully fire in Drake, NSW. Our beloved community has now experienced it's 5th bushfire emergency in 9 months. 4 of these in the last 2 months. These recent fires destroyed over 50 homes in our area alone and sadly killed 2 people, which I knew personally. Before that we lived through the February Tabulam fires which destroyed 23 homes. In almost 26 years of living here we have never witnessed anything like this before, NEVER.

Container of Dreams was established to help provide housing to the disadvantaged. I believe that losing your home in a bushfire emergency qualifies. These bushfires are creating a widespread accommodation crisis. It's time to help.

I am trying to estimate the human cost of these fires and it is overwhelming. With over 740 homes burnt to the ground and 1000's more damaged that equates to 1000's of people who will spend christmas without a home and 1000's more who will have a rotten christmas because of the financial toll of the fires. Then there's the volunteer fire fighters, the volunteer relief workers and others on the ground helping out. The human cost is enormous.
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I must say that I hate crowdfunding. I really hate having to ask people for money. I hate it even more when I think that it should be our government who is paying to help these people. Crowdfunding relies heavily on friends and family networks to donate. I have already harassed my friends and family enough. That is why I won't be asking my friends for money, so I am putting the campaign out there on social media and I will approach businesses and people I know who have money to give, but that is all. If we don't get any donations, or only a few, then so be it. Although I really hope everyone will consider making a donation, no matter how small. Imagine if everyone gave just $10. You probably wouldn't miss it but it could make a huge difference to someone who has nothing or has lost everything. I can't help thinking about what sort of christmas those who have lost everything are going to have?

I will give a big Thank you to Janelle Saffin, Member for Lismore, for kickstarting the campaign with a $250 donation - she's good people!

I also realise that Christmas is a shit time of year to be asking for donations, as nobody has any spare cash. That's why the campaign will go for three months to allow time to gather resources to build the tiny homes. It's an ongoing program and will need ongoing funds. Maybe you will consider making a donation when the silly season is over and done with.

We are extending our Tiny Homes for the Homeless program to include those who lost their homes in the bushfires and were not insured. We want to assist the relief effort by helping rebuild people's lives.

We are raising money to fund the purchase of construction materials to build more Tiny Houses. These will be given to people who are finding themselves homeless through no fault of their own.

Click on the link if you want to support our crowdfunding campaign to give tiny houses to the homeless, including those made homeless from the bushfires. All money collected will be used to purchase construction materials to build Tiny Houses.
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https://chuffed.org/project/container-of-dreams-community-workshop

Thanks for listening!
Clare

NOTE: Even while I wrote this blog post I was interrupted half way through by the thick smell of smoke in the air and the looming cloud of smoke engulfing our property. I went outside to check on conditions. The current fire is some way from us, however, We remain vigilant! ...the new normal :(

A new Blog Series which examines the history, applications and exemplars of container housing across the globe, as well as examining the Tiny House Movement. In this series of posts I will inspect tiny house projects and other relevant developments currently being undertaken in Australia and around the world. 

Part 1: SHIPPING CONTAINERS

​Shipping containers were standardised in the 1950s to create a more efficient and economical way to transport goods around the globe. Today the repurposing of containers into modules for building is becoming more widespread and is now creating a new category of architecture which some have labelled “cargotecture”. Due to their availability and relative low cost more people are investigating the use of containers for many innovative purposes, not the least of which is housing applications. While the phenomenon is growing rapidly around the globe there is still some resistance in western countries, to use containers as permanent housing due to a perceived negative stereotype. However, broader architectural applications such as retail, businesses, workshops and portable and temporary accommodation are increasing, with an emergent conversion industry developing.
 
Shipping containers are also known as ISBUs (Intermodal Steel Building Units) or ISO containers (International Standards Organisation) and they generally come in the standardised sizes of 10, 20 or 40 foot lengths which makes them ideally suited to becoming construction building blocks. Many containers are only used for one trip, as returning an empty container to its country of origin, usually China, is not economically viable. This import/export disparity has generated a surplus of containers in most western ports. The image below is an illustration of this excess and is featured on the cover of The Deadly Life of Logistics, Mapping Violence in Global Trade, written by Deborah Cowen.

Repurposing these surplus receptacles makes both economic and environmental sense. Dr Caroline Uittenbroek, Assistant Professor at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, describes the repurposing of shipping containers as “…the ultimate in sustainability, using far fewer materials and far less embodied energy than any kind of construction” (Uittenbroek 2009).

The drawcard of the shipping container is undoubtedly its structural strength as they are made from high quality corten steel which is an incredibly strong, yet lightweight material made to tolerate the harsh elements often experienced at sea. It is certainly this strength combined with their uniformity which originally led architects and builders to explore alternative uses beyond storage and shipping.

​Stay tuned for next week when we discuss container housing communities or developments around the globe.... and present examples
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Project RECAP:
​The main focus of my Phd project was to devise an inexpensive liveable dwelling prototype to showcase micro-housing concepts in a tangible way. My research began by exploring possibilities of adapting discarded shipping containers in the creation of this model. Shipping containers were chosen for this purpose due to their affordability, availability, flexibility and speed of construction. I called the prototype ‘Container of Dreams’. 

​The bathroom zone had to accommodate all the customary features one would expect and require in a bathroom. This includes a toilet, basin and shower, however, in the Container of Dreams, it also features a bathtub. The bath, along with the other bathroom fixtures of toilet, shower and basin were donated to the project by Caroma. A full-sized bath is not typically an item that would be associated with a micro house. This bathtub, a Cube Back-to-Wall Bath, is measured at 1600mm in length and is promoted by Caroma as a space saver. Caroma was eager to donate it to the project to demonstrate their relevance in this arena. I was also keen to incorporate this item into the dwelling as I estimated that this would portray an essence of indulgence and would indicate that, with appropriate design, such luxury items did not need to be compromised in small spaces. Interestingly, the addition of this size bath to the room did not take away any significant space from the overall layout. 

However, it was necessary to install the shower, also donated by Caroma, over the bath as a supplementary space saving procedure. A compact toilet suite, once again supplied by Caroma (aren’t they awesome!), was also installed in the bathroom. Branded as the Urbane Compact, it is designed so that the toilet pan has a shorter protrusion than standard toilets and the cistern is concealed in the wall cavity to conserve space.

As a further result of budget restrictions I elected not to install a washing machine in the finalised container house, however there is adequate space in the bathroom to install one in the future if desired. The addition of a washing machine would reinforce the self-containment credentials of the residence and offer an added degree of self-reliance for the occupant.
 
Conclusion:
In the end the container home is not a fully resolved and approved dwelling*. It was not intended to be, rather it is designed to be a work of art aimed to stimulate dialogue around the topic of affordable housing. It has been conceived to showcase how smaller spaces can work effectively and how this can assist in altering community perceptions. Using art as an instrument for societal change, the object of my installation was to make social commentary about affordable housing in order to challenge the accepted way of thinking. As a consequence this will encourage debate around the topic and inspire transformation in the wider community. 

*Even though the container was conceived as a prototype which is not fully approved it is still fully functional and can be easily rendered compliant for approval with very little alteration.

This concludes the posts detailing the construction of the “Container of Dreams”. These were extracts from Chapter Seven of my Phd thesis. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it. 

In my next series I will post extracts from another chapter of my thesis, Chapter Five: Container Homes and Tiny Houses.  Throughout the next blog series I will discuss the logic for utilising containers to convert for use as micro-housing as an immediate and innovative solution to the escalating affordable housing challenge in Australia. I will present exemplars of developments already undertaken throughout the globe to validate this rationale and I will update the examples of have used in my document by presenting even more recent examples.
 
If you’ve liked what you’ve read so far and would like to read more you can download  my full thesis: “Container of Dreams” is available as a pdf through Southern Cross University’s Library : https://epubs.scu.edu.au/theses/660/
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​Architect Roger Fay believes that small spaces should be designed with considered adaptability in order to be sustainable. Designing a space to be used in differing ways as the needs of the occupants change over time can accomplish this. Bearing in mind the need for adaptability, I selected furniture that could be multi-purpose. To this end I designed the lounge area seating with multiple functions in mind. I established the concept of a modular and mobile seating area which could be adapted as necessary to perform various functions within the space. In keeping with the hypothesis of multi-function and adaptability, these modules were envisaged to have storage added, as well as be functional seats. Moreover, the concept was to make these individual units moveable to enable them to be effortlessly moved about within the space. It was conceptualised that these modules would serve as a lounge seating area when the bed was in the upright position and be able to be wheeled around the space for ease of movement when the bed was needed to be utilised in the lowered state. They would also function as chairs around the table and provide additional seating when more was required. They could even be taken on to the outdoor deck area when desired. 

​After researching existing furniture items which could be adapted for my purposes I purchased four padded stools with integrated under seat storage from IKEA. To adapt these for use in my concept I also purchased four pot trolleys from Bunnings being careful to assess the weight load rating and ensure appropriate capacity for the application. Pot trolleys are pot plant stands with attached wheels underneath manufactured to assist with moving and arranging potted plants around the home without the need for heavy lifting. They are rated to accept assorted weight loads to bear large and heavy potted plants and are available in square or round shapes. I purchased pot trolleys with a weight load of 100kg each in the square form. I considered these ideal for the task and cost-effective as well. To attach the pot trolleys to the stools it was necessary to cut some thick plywood to the same dimensions of the stool frame for use as a base to enable the trolley to be screwed into place and the frame of the stool to then be fixed to this base. 

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This concludes this week's post. I hope you are enjoying reading my process.
As promised last week, next time I will discuss the bathroom area.
​Stay tuned....

To install the kitchen sink a large sink-sized hole was cut in both the timber benchtop and the top of the metal unit using the cardboard template that was provided with the sink. The sink is a Clark Evolution single bowl sink which, along with the tapware, was donated by Caroma. The sink is marketed as appropriate for smaller kitchens and has added features, which make it ideal for this application, which includes a range of multi-function accessories such as a stainless steel draining basket, a colander, and a wooden chopping board.  These supplementary elements assist in making the sink and benchtop area genuinely adaptable and multi-purpose. Two wall mounted metal cabinets, purchased from IKEA, were then installed above the kitchen cabinetry. These helped to engender the presence of what is understood as a kitchen and provide important additional storage space.
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I decided not to include a freestanding stove in the kitchen zone for a number of reasons. It was not in the limits of my budget and they are rather large, cumbersome items requiring a lot of space. A portable induction cooktop, was instead selected for the cooking application and was purchased from IKEA. Induction units are considered extremely energy efficient and this item takes up very little space in an area where space is already at a premium. The cooktop unit is compact and portable, so that when it is not in use it can be neatly stored away, freeing up bench space for other applications. 

​The table area was conceived yet again with efficient use of space in mind. The design is using a simple folding technique which allows it to be transformable to accommodate extra people, or additional area for work or other purposes, and to fold down out of the way when not in use, as shown in the images. When folded down it remains as a small table space to allow for a laptop, writing desk and even a personal meals area. 

​The table required three (3) legs, which were purchased from IKEA, to be fixed to the underside of a pre-made timber benchtop, which was bought from Bunnings. Two (2) of the legs are fixed permanently to the folded down version of the table. The third leg is attached easily using a simple screwing motion into the fitting, as shown in the image below. This leg is stored away in the kitchen cabinet when not in use.

This concludes the build of the kitchen zone. Next week I will discuss the requirements of the bathroom zone. Stay tuned for details...

​​There are many aspects to the interior fit out of the container, including design, construction phases, fitting of fixtures and installation and placement of furniture, both fixed and movable and these processes will be expounded upon in this and the next few posts.

Initially it was essential to determine the best design arrangement for the space. After investigating several interior layout options using computer software programs I developed what I concluded would be the most efficient use of the internal space.  I had been donated some large items, specifically a folding wall-bed provided by Pardo Wall Beds and a full sized bath donated by Caroma, which had to be taken into consideration when determining the best design arrangement. These items, along with the equipping of the dwelling with obligatory elements, such as kitchen and additional bathroom fittings and fixtures and other furniture, had to be accommodated to fit acceptably in such a small area to make the space work effectively. The above image illustrates the interior layout design which was ultimately adopted. The design arrangement in the image shows the wall bed in the lowered position.

The next step in the interior fitout was to cover the walls. For this process I had been supplied some eco-plywood sheets which were donated to the project by The Elton Group. This plywood sheeting is marketed as an eco-friendly building product known as EPly Pangua Pure Glue. Manufactured from certified plantation grown timber using a soy based adhesive, it contains no added formaldehyde which helps to improve air quality to make a healthier indoor environment. The plywood was supplied in sheets measuring 2440 x 1220 x 9mm. I selected to line only one long wall, the interior of the western wall, and to leave the other, the eastern wall, in its original state. The eastern wall was designated to remain in this condition to reference the container itself and as a gesture of remembrance to its previous appearance and function. A small partition wall at the southern end of the interior area was constructed as a divider to provide additional privacy for the bathroom and was also lined using the plywood sheets. 

​The plywood lining was attached to timber stud framing that had been installed earlier. This covering was then painted in a geometric pattern using white, orange and yellow paints to add colour and visual appeal. Some of this paint was donated to the project by Dulux Paints. 
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Wall Bed

The wall bed was installed directly in front of the constructed partition wall. A wall bed is a space saving solution designed specifically for small spaces, they are also known as “Murphy beds”. The bed frame is attached to a spring mechanism and hinged at one end to allow the bed to be lowered for use or raised vertically against the wall when not in use. This is designed to open up more living space, especially in environments were floor space is at a premium.

The wall bed mechanism and base in the Container of Dreams is queen sized and was donated to the project by Pardo Wall Beds. It was installed following the manufacturer’s directions by fixing the apparatus to both the floor and wall using screws. The bed frame was then inserted into the device and fastened into position. A queen sized mattress, donated to the project by Ecosa, was secured to the bed frame using straps provided by the bed structure supplier. These straps hold the mattress in position when the frame is being raised or lowered. 

Next post we will discuss the kitchen area of the conversion.
Stay tuned...
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Outdoor Deck
A small free-standing deck has been constructed just off the french doors on the eastern side of the dwelling. This deck provides a sense of extra living space and is a linking mechanism to connect the outdoors to the inside space. The deck was easily constructed using treated pine sleepers for beams and joists. For both ease of construction and as an aesthetic feature, I elected to fabricate the deck to the dimensions of the Inex decking boards that I had on hand. These had been generously donated to the project by UBIQ. This required that the treated pine supports be exactly 2700mm in length, identical to the length of the decking boards. It was necessary to dig a small trench in order to position the beams at the required height. These were made level and some concrete was poured around them for added stability and to ensure they didn’t shift. I then used nine standard 2400mm treated pine sleepers as joists and placed them at equal intervals along the crossbeams. These were secured into place using screws. The decking boards were then placed directly onto the joists and fastened into position using masonry screws. 

​Flashings
Flashings were then installed at all exposed corners of the exterior. Flashing is required as a weather barrier to decrease water penetration around all joints. It was necessary to install this at all the corners and along the roofline. Flashing also assists in finishing off the construction and contributes to the completion of the overall aesthetic appeal of the building. The flashing used was kindly donated to the project by Metroll Lismore.

An 1130 litre round polyethylene water storage tank, generously donated by Duraplas Tanks, was then mounted at the rear of the structure. This will enable the collection of rainwater to supplement water supply to the dwelling. 

​Hills Hoist
To finalize the exterior appearance a Hills Hoist clothesline was erected on top of the container, on the rooftop deck. A second hand clothesline was acquired free of charge after advertising on social media pages. The Hills Hoist attained was in reasonable condition and was disassembled. It still had the mass of concrete enclosed around the supporting steel pole at the base from where it had been dug from the ground. This necessitated cutting the pole off just above this concrete section with the angle grinder. Making a new stand for the clothesline to enable it to be attached to the rooftop deck was then required. This support was made from metal pipe and angled steel which was welded together by my friend, John Raymond, who also assisted me with fastening it to the rooftop deck. The central pole of the clothesline was inserted on to it and bolted in to position. The remaining poles were then reattached into their corresponding locations to complete the installation. 

The rationale for inserting the Hills Hoist into this composition is to make reference to the Great Australian Dream. My project is about discovering creative approaches to established housing in order to reimagine the Great Australian Dream through micro-housing solutions. The Hills Hoist is commonly recognized as a physical manifestation of Australian suburbia and in our society there is an authoritative entrenched symbolism ascribed to the object itself. It is this statement of the clothesline’s distinctive place in Australian lore that I have extracted in this work and consequently it is used here as a cultural symbol to represent the Great Australian Dream. This depiction gives the viewer the tools to imagine a different interpretation of the conventional model. It is used as a device to bring all the concepts of the project together.

I hope you enjoyed our sixth installment of "Building the Container of Dreams" and finding out why the Hills Hoist is included in the composition.
​In part 7 we get inside the container and start discussing the interior. Stay tuned...

We are so pleased to announce that our approval for registration as a charity has come through from the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission.