Sometimes when I wake in the middle of the night, I obsess about the zillions of shipping containers in the world (when I am not obsessing over bills, tomorrow's commute, or why I am not asleep). What happens, in the end, to all those corrugated metal boxes? Is there some graveyard where obsolete cargo containers go to be piled into a rusty, sad mountain of metal?
Maybe I should take a sleeping pill (I think at 3 am). Or get up and wander around Pinterest for a while until I feel sleepy or—
Well, will you look at this pin. A New Zealand architecture firm called Atelierworkshop has transformed a shipping container into a holiday house—a "bach" is what they call a vacation cabin in New Zealand, by the way, short for "bachelor pad"—and it has a foldout terrace, clever bunk beds, and a tiny kitchenette.
Photographs via Atelierworkshop.
Above: This particular holiday house—a prototype for a design I'd very much like to see in mass production—is a "port-a-bach" because it doesn't have a permanent foundation. Move it to a nice sunny spot with a view.
Above: Murphy-bed style bunks fold out for open-air sleeping.
Above: The port-a-bach folds open, Barbie-Dream-House style, to reveal a patio (with a retractable awning and wind screens).
Above: Indoors, the shipping container has a built-in wood paneled kitchenette and a shower heated by solar power.
Above: Louvered doors aid ventilation.
Above: Clever storage shelves don't obstruct the view.
Above: Want, want, want.
I used to think shipping container cabins sounded like a crazy idea. But now I'm a convert. For another of my favorite shipping container campsites, see Little Cargo Container in the Big Woods.