Incredible Homes Made from Shipping Containers

After traveling the seven seas for years, shipping containers are finding second lives as an affordable green building material. As such, there are architects and designers around the world who are getting incredibly creative with them, incorporating them into impressive edifices. Here are some of our favorite shipping container homes and hotels from across the globe.

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Spanning 3,000 square feet, this shipping container home in Denver, Colorado, has an industrial aesthetic with rustic elements. Inside, a massive double-height great room is the core of the space.

Designed by modular and prefab house company Honomobo, this home nestled into the woods is located on Webber Island near Honey Harbour, Ontario. It’s one of Honomobo’s HO4+ units, comprising four shipping containers.

Architecture firm River and Rain has created an indoor-outdoor oasis in Dhaka, Bangladesh, named Escape Den. It’s crafted from parts of four recycled shipping containers.

The Quadrum Ski & Yoga Resort in Gudauri, Georgia, features stacked shipping containers clad in wood paneling, creating a modernist ski lodge that contrasts greatly with the Caucasus Mountains backdrop.

The Seven Havens luxury hotel is located on a hillside in Lombok, Indonesia, and has one of the best views on the island it sits on. There are four individual rooms available for rent, as well as a three-bedroom villa.

Instead of staying in a tiny house, you can stay in this tiny shipping container, an eco-friendly vacation rental in Atlanta, Georgia, that’s listed on Airbnb. The cozy unit has a lovely patio, a hammock, and a firepit.

Architecture firm Culumus designed the facilities for Devil’s Corner, a winery in Tasmania, Australia, from repurposed shipping containers. Beyond a tasting room, there’s a lookout tower where visitors can take in the surrounding scenery.

Owners Gabriela Calvo and Marca Peralta had a budget of just $40,000 to build their dream home near San Jose, Costa Rica. Architecture firm Studio Saxe recycled two shipping containers to keep the project within budget.

Located in the port town of Warnemünde, Germany, this hostel offers 64 guest rooms with 188 beds, all built into old shipping containers. Reclaimed materials make appearances throughout the property, like the shipping pallets that were used to create seating in the lounge.

Architecture firm James & Mau partnered modular home company Infiniski on Manifesto House, a shipping container home in Curacaví, Chile. It’s clad in recycled slatted wood pallets, which can be opened to help regulate the temperature inside.

Camping meets tiny house living in this off-the-grid Airbnb. Though it has fabulous bohemian decor, it does lack running water, WiFi, and a true kitchen.

One of the most striking shipping container buildings in the world, Joshua Tree Residence by Whitaker Studio is located in the California desert and comprised of a starburst-like conglomeration of white containers.

The PV14 house in Dallas, Texas, was architecture firm M Gooden Design’s first project using shipping containers—a total of 14 were used during construction.

Artist and architect Ty Kelly built this one-bedroom abode in Livingston, Montana, using two shipping containers. He sold it to a private buyer in 2018: his neighbor down the road.

Located in Brooklyn, New York, this Airbnb was one of the first shipping container homes in the city. Its interiors have an industrial-meets-bohemian aesthetic.

There are many mansions in the Hamptons, but there’s only one shipping-container mansion in town: the beachfront Beach Box in Amagansett. Its developer listed it in 2012 for $1.4 million.

Travis Price Architects built the Sea Container Housing DC as a student dormitory in Washington, D.C. It only took seven months to build from conception to full occupancy.

This Airbnb vacation home in Wellington, New Zealand, was built from three stacked shipping containers. The rental has its own screening room and hydrotherapy spa.

This colorful hostel in Nha Trang, Vietnam, was the first in the city to be built of shipping containers. It’s designed to mimic a traditional Vietnamese house with distinct blocks for living, sleeping, and washing.

Set in Oklahoma City, this apartment complex by Alfred Hall Monaghan Morris comprises four two-bedroom units built from 16 shipping containers. There’s even a tornado bunker on the property, given the apartments’ location in Tornado Alley.

Another collaboration by James & Mau and Infiniski, El Tiemblo House in El Tiemblo, Spain, is a modular, eco-friendly private home. Some 70 percent of the materials used to build the house are recycled.

Designed by firm Doone Silver Kerr, Stow-Away Waterloo is an apartment/hotel in London with 20 suites, each in its own refurbished shipping container. While the exterior features a stark white metallic façade, the interiors are crafted with warm woods.

This Airbnb in Jinja, Uganda, blends a rustic ranch style with the industrial nature of a shipping container. Before being shipped from to the U.S. to Uganda, the container was filled with supplies and shoes as part of the Sole Hope non-profit.

How much does it cost to convert a shipping container into a home?

A single small to medium-size container will set you back about $10,000 – $35,000—but bigger containers can cost upwards of $100,000. And the more amenities you include (whether it's moisture-resistant kitchen cabinetry or a water temperature regulator for the bathroom), the higher the price tag. There's also the option of combining multiple containers to create a larger home, which can cost over $200,000.

How long do shipping containers last?

Designed to withstand long-distance ocean travel, shipping containers are incredibly durable. They're windproof and water-tight (albeit still prone to rusting). A house made of used shipping containers will tend to depreciate after 10 – 15 years, while one made of new shipping containers can last up to 25 years.

Are shipping containers safe?

Some shipping containers transport harmful chemicals—so before you buy one secondhand, check to make sure it's never been used to store a dangerous substance.

Shipping container homes are available at an ever-increasing number of prefab home manufacturers—among them, Blok Studio (which touts 40-foot containers starting at $79,000); Honomobo (whose offerings include a $210,000 two-bedroom, one-bath layout); Backcountry Containers (which custom designs homes to suit its clients' specific needs); and Kubed Living (featuring modular structures ranging from tiny casitas to multifamily complexes).