Hello, my name is Andrew and I am a junior in high school. I took on the challenge of designing a cheaper home out of shipping containers. This design is made to act as a comfortable home for four people. I hope you enjoy!

Step 1: Initial Design and Floor Plans

For my initial design, I started with coming up with some ideas and determined that I wanted my design to be one of its kind. I then came up with the floor plan of the design I had chosen. The floor plan is a to scale model of the home with 1 cm representing 2 feet. From the floor plan, I made an exterior that I thought looked pleasing.

Step 2: To Tinkercad

Because I had my design and floor plan, the only remaining thing to do was to got to tinkercad and make my idea real. I first started by adding a layer of gray area around the interior of the shipping container. This is used to represent insulation. Insulation is highly important, especially when using a metal container as a home. Because it has properties that allow it to drop to cold temperatures, people are prone to either freezing or a high electricity bill from your heater being on continuously. Insulation helps to solve this problem by helping capture and contain warm air. After the layer of insulation was added, I put in walls which would be made from drywall. I then connected two shipping containers and made another two copies of that.

Step 3: With the First Combined Containers

With the first combined containers, I made a room in the corner. I wanted more than just a square looking home so I made this room a pentagon shape. This makes the house more unique. The room is about an 8x8 foot room. Right next to it, I made a room for the bathroom. The bathroom is about 6x7 foot room. Where the bathroom ended, I took out a lot of a wall for the hallway from the living room to the kitchen area. I then added some windows into the walls before I moved onto the kitchen. I first added the three big windows on the front of the house. I wanted a lot of natural light to enter the house so large windows come in handy. I then added two windows on each side of where a television would be located. This is more so for safety because there would be few windows on the right side of the house. Next, I put two windows in the bedroom. There is not a window in the bottom floor of the bathroom because it is on the ground floor. I added carpet to the bedroom and living room and tiles to the bathroom.

Step 4: The Kitchen

I then moved onto the kitchen. I first started by adding the stairs. The stairs have a banister to keep people from falling and injuring themselves. The stairs were also very vital because there is not a lot of room in these buildings. So the stairs actually act as a pantry and is also responsible for housing a water heater. The pantry is a fundamental part of a home because it stores a lot of food. Without a pantry, the food storage would be chaos. The water heater is also very important. The water heater in this house is in the very corner underneath the stairs. The water heater is responsible for a fairly important task. Heating water. Without this, you would not be able to have a hot bath or shower. Where the pantry ends, the fridge is right next to there. From the fridge, there is a counter. The counter is interrupted with a stove. A microwave is located above the stove. Under the counter top, there are cabinets for storage. All around the stove, there are also cabinets. 3 feet perpendicular to the stove is an island that is 3x4 feet. The island has a sink and a dishwasher in it. On the opposite side of the sink, there are stools to act as a bar. 5 feet away from the island is the dining room table. The table is 4x6 feet with 6 seats total for guests. I then added the front door and a back door. From there, I added windows. The kitchen doesn't have a ton of room for windows due to the cabinets, but because the storage containers are so high, I was able to add windows above them. I added one large window on the back which came from and idea of an outdoor bar. The window has the ability to open and be an outdoor bar for adults. I waited to add some of the windows until I had connected the first floor to the second floor. I then connected the kitchen to the living room.

Step 5: Upstairs

The staircase in the kitchen leads up to the second floor. On this floor, I started with making the bathrooms. One being a master bathroom with only a shower. The kids bathroom has a tub and a shower. Next was the master bedroom. I made it way bigger than the kids room. It has a television, a closet, a bed, a night stand, and much more that can be added. Next is the kids bedroom. The kids bedroom is a little smaller but we’ll drawn out. Their is a bunk bed with the bottom having the functionality of a desk. Their is a dresser big enough to hand clothes in. Finally I added an open office. This is a place for the parents to work from and use as their own office. I finished the build by adding windows and a door the the upstairs patio. The upstairs patio is a place for those nice days when you want to hang out. It has furniture and can have greenery added to it.

Step 6: The Roof

I wanted the roof the be unique because only using a rectangular shape can make a building somewhat boring. This roof is surrounded by windows to allow a lot of natural light in. This means that some rooms get light from the roof.

Step 7: 3D Model

I made this 3D model. It does not include the furniture, but it shows a to scale model of the rooms and the floor plan. It is easy to see the lower levels because the floors are able to be removed. It accurately displays all of the windows as well. All of this is done by hand so its not perfect but it is very close.

Step 8: Exterior

The main component on the exterior is the AC unit and heater. This is very important because this building is made out of metal, it’s temperature can easily heat or cool due to its temperature conductivity. This helps regulate the internal temperature of the home so the people living there don’t die from being frozen solid or from heatstroke.

Step 9: Costs

Their are a few costs but overall the total cost of this home will be way cheaper than mostly everything on the market. A couple things to note.

For insulation, most people pay between $6,600 and $15,000 for homes of this size.

Carpet material prices average $2.50 per square foot,

Most homeowners spending around $2,000 on 1,000 sq. ft. of standard ½” drywall, hung and finished in a remodel.

The cost of an used shipping container ranges from 2,000-3,000 dollars. Multiply this by 6 to get the cost.

A tile cost calculator calculated the cost of the kitchen being approximately 3,000-5,000 dollars.

6,600-15,000 insulation+1,600 carpet +8,000 dry wall+3,000-5,000+12,000-18,000=31,200-47,600

With the additional expenditures, such as window, bathrooms, plumbing, etc., the home owner should be able to have their cost ranging from 40,000-60,000 dollars. This is a great deal because inflation has made housing costs well over 500 thousand dollars. This building will make housing more affordable and comfortable for multiple people. This will be used as a great tool because the average housing cost is 400,000 dollars. Not a lot of people have that kind of money in their pockets. This will make housing more affordable and provide a shelter for a decent sized family.