Thinking Inside the Box

There's nothing hoboesque about the Adriance family's 4,000-square-foot summer home in Maine. Except that it's built out of shipping containers—the part of trucks used to transport goods across the oceans. Adam Kalkin, the architect who built the home for Anne and Matthew Adriance, is using those corrugated metal boxes because they offer interesting design possibilities, and are plentiful and inexpensive. The containers come in from China, stuffed with consumer goods, and then hit the scrap heap. "It's cheaper to make another one in China than to ship it back empty," says Kalkin, who buys containers from the ports of New Jersey for $1,500 to $2,000 apiece.

Kalkin and others, like New York architectural firm Lot-ek, are developing container homes that are priced for the masses. He offers a Quik House kit for $119,000 that includes six containers and all required glass, plumbing, wiring and walls; he estimates that it takes $65,000 of additional work to turn it into a three-bedroom 2,000-square-foot home. Lotek sells a similar kit for $120,000, and has found a market with customers who like finishing the homes themselves. That's thinking inside the box.

© 2007