Haiti's Housing Crisis Solution: Container Cities
Sustainable, affordable, practical, colorful, livable
February 2, 2010
Shipping container cities have come a long way. With all due focus on Haiti and the imminent efforts to rebuild Port-au-Prince, city planners are wise to consider the many benefits of Container Cities. They make affordable and efficient, practical and lively housing, and Americans are sending them to Haiti to provide aid. Small projects can go up in just a few days, making them ideal for emergency housing.
Urban Space Management Ltd, based in the UK, first devised the Container City in 2000, completing their debut project five months later in London's Trinity Buoy Wharf. It showcased a total of 20 shipping containers and more than 80% recycled material. The initial 4,800 square feet, which later expanded, offered lively work studios and residential spaces. The company has now executed over a dozen such shipping container projects throughout greater London, sparking architects abroad to create their own.
Broadening the concept and turning what appears to be inherently unattractive containers into versatile, aesthetically pleasing and vibrant courtyards, walkways and communal spaces, designers from a community of small businesses in Mexico have completed the most stunning Container City to-date in Cholula, about two hours from Mexico City. Measuring roughly 48,500 square feet, the urban enclave is a bohemian hotspot filled with trendy workspaces, hip juice bars and cafés, bakeries, New Age stores, bookstores, funky bars and restaurants. The project, which is pure eye candy with its popping colors and lushly painted corridors, is on its way to proving that containers can do more than hold stuff; they can bring people together in fantastic public spaces and inspire social interaction.That may be the golden hope for designers on the ground in Haiti. Architects from Clemson University's SEED project are trying to devise a plan to gather and reuse shipping containers from around the world in order to build new housing in the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, in the aftermath of the 7.0 earthquake that struck on January 12, 2010. It would not be the country's first container project. In 2006, undergraduate students from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York successfully built a medical clinic from a single container in Haiti. Because Haiti imports far more than it exports, reusable containers are already abundant.
In the wake of Hurricane Ivan and Hurricane Jeanne, which ravaged Haiti and flattened homes across the country in 2004, RPI began a similar initiative to help the devastated country rebuild by hosting a student competition that awarded the best housing design for an 8x8x40 space (standard container size).The challenge continues today. With numerous successful Container City projects already in place, builders have to think big, considering the scope of the devastation and the number of inhabitants. Currently, the largest Container City is in Amsterdam: The Student Housing Project Keetwonen. Launched in 2006 by Tempohousing, the dormitory consists of 1,000 stacked shipping containers. The complex has both heating and rooftop water drainage systems, as well as insulated units for its northern climate. Dorm units come with private bathrooms, kitchens, balconies, high speed Internet and large windows for daylight.
And the green pyramid Container City at Crou in Le Havre, France by Olgga Architects proves that the rectangle can be as versatile as the imagination. NewsSip
Photo credits: Containercity.com.mx, Olgga Architects
