Want to live in a $100,000 dumpster?

[Lloyd Bonafide]

Why not? The Euros do it.

Well, not really a dumpster, but a shipping container.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008805130314

http://www.containercity.com/

The idea of putting people in empty shipping containers hardly evokes images of stylish urban living.

But a Detroit-based group hopes to use empty shipping containers to build one of the most unusual -- and certainly one of the most innovative -- residential projects in southeast Michigan.

The project would stack empty containers four high, cut in windows and doors, install plumbing, stairways and heating, and add amenities such as balconies and landscaped patios.

If it wins city approvals, the 17-unit condominium project could break ground this fall and open near Wayne State University in 2009. Steven Flum, a Detroit-based architect who designed the project, said it solves several problems at once, including the need to build environmentally sensitive buildings cheaply. The project is going to cost about $1.8 million, about 25% less than a normal condo project of similar quality would run.

 

[Michigan CG]

It is news like this that makes me want to move back to God's Country (Iowa).

 

[Restrain]

They built a hotel in San Antonio using this same type of concept. Built a concrete frame, prefabed the units, including plumbing, furniture, etc, picked the units up and slid them into the holes.

 

[hglenbetts]

Dumpsters or shipping containers are a big step up from a lot of the rat traps I've appraised in Detroit.
:new_snipersmilie:woohoo

 

[Flygirl 152]

Interesting. I hope when the development is finished that someone from the area can go and take photos of the models and upload for us all to see.

 

[Greg Parker]

Actually, That looks a lot like some of the "contemporary" projects I have been appraising here in Philadelphia. Ugly.