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Containers in the News
Quick Homes Superchallenge forms possibilities KIM DAVIS By 2020, TraveLodge plans to build 670 hotels in the U.K., Ireland, and Spain using them. Near Amsterdam, the Keetwonen student housing development consists of 1,050 of them. And in Salt Lake City, the City Centre Lofts project is slated to become the first mid-rise building in North America to be constructed with them. They are international shipping containers, and they are strong, durable and plentiful. They also can reduce construction time, and reportedly cost up to half of that of traditional building techniques. Monte Paulsen, investigative editor at the Tyee, a B.C.-based online magazine, believes these eight-by-40-foot steel boxes also could prove to be an invaluable resource for helping to house B.C.'s homeless. "Homelessness is morally repugnant and financially irresponsible," says Paulsen, who notes that while B.C. Housing recently started construction on six of 14 promised new homeless housing buildings in Vancouver, the suites are expected to be costly to taxpayers. "Until we find a cheaper way to build, we won't be able to deal with homelessness," he says. "I am not married to the container concept," says Paulsen, "I am committed to affordability. Mayor [Gregor] Robinson has promised to end street homelessness by 2015, but if we don't have enough buildings by then, that can't happen." Linus Lam, of the Vancouver branch of Architecture for Humanity Society, expresses similar concern and passion about the issue. "There is no magic to shipping containers," he says, "but we need designers and architects to focus on how to address the problem [of homelessness] quickly. We know there are shelters out there, and we know there is more permanent housing coming, but we need something in the middle." Lam says that while shipping containers are not the answer, per se, they are one of several options for dealing with the immediate need. In an effort to explore this potential, and generate a series of viable concepts for prototyping and implementation, Architecture for Humanity, in association with the Design Foundation of British Columbia and with sponsorship from the Tyee and the Tyee Solutions Society, hosted a one-day design charette and competition. The aim of the Quick Homes Superchallenge was to challenge attendants -- they ranged from industrial design students and seasoned architects, to planners and psychologists -- to create fast, cheap, and adaptable housing designs using Intermodal Steel Building Units. (a. k.a. shipping containers) "Every project that came out of [the charette] was amazing and quite feasible," says Mark Ashby of Mark Ashby Architects, one of the event's participants. While Ashby, as well as fellow participant, Varouj Gumuchian, an intern architect involved with social housing efforts, both have doubts about the advantages of shipping containers over other forms of prefab or modular housing, they felt the charette provided an invaluable discussion about what is possible. Ashby notes that not only is the City of Vancouver struggling with a shelter and affordability problem, there is also a lack of housing diversity and options. He says housing in the region is comprised almost entirely of three types of buildings: single-family homes, condos and apartments. He says the first two are extremely expensive, while the latter is barely affordable, not to mention in short supply. "The problem that we have here is not one of available solutions," says Ashby, "the problem is a crisis of imagination and the inability of the city to recognize alternatives to those three mainstream options for places for people to live." Lam feels that if there is one thing to take from the event, it is the creative conversation that de-stigmatizes alternative housing modes. Both Paulsen and Lam talk about the apprehension people express regarding shipping containers in residential design. And several social housing advocates described their initial skepticism and concern when they heard about the idea of using big metal freight boxes to create semi-permanent, or even temporary, housing for those living on the street -- images of warehousing the city's already marginalized populations. "Once the [shipping container] building is clad and furnished though," says Lam, "it is just another space." He says we already live in a city where developers are selling high-end condos that are not much bigger or different in size or dimensions. Says Paulsen: "If you didn't know they were containers, you wouldn't be able to tell." "Vancouver could become a genuinely green capital," says Paulsen. "We need to try to get the solutions out there and get people to 'steal' and run with it." Vancouver may not see 'Container City' projects, such as those created throughout the world by U.K.-based Urban Space Management, but for Paulsen, the Quick Homes Superchallenge has already been a success. He says his schedule is booked with "a 100-cup of coffee discussions" with people keen to get involved. "We can do this," he says. "Through something like this we can reach Gregor's goal. I wouldn't care who got it done, I would be proud to raise my boys in a city that did that." © Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun |
