The Kitchen Designer: container shedworking

Container conversions have been slowly growing in popularity over the last couple of years so Shedworking was delighted to hear from Mark Hanner of The Kitchen Designer about his 20ft shipping container shedworking atmosphere at Trowbridge Garden Centre, Wiltshire:

"My decision to convert a 20ft shipping container, came after an 18 month search for premises to setup a small kitchen studio. By budget wasn’t huge and that restricted me enormously with the standard high street option, coupled with the greed of some local landlords! I wanted to ensure I didn’t follow the trend, and do something unique.

"Also conscious of the looming recession, the shipping container was a good way forwards. It now also provides me with a very cost effective platform for expanding the business, with the ability to put units in many places other businesses can’t be!

"The conversion process was a big learning curve for me, as I did most of the work myself – calling on friends and family for help where needed. Inside, the container is studded out the same as you would most interiors, and is insulated, boarded and skimmed. I wanted to ensure the interior looked as smart as possible, and once you are inside, you’d never know you were in a container. I've even installed ceiling speakers that provide wireless radio & music."Outside has been left standard, with a coat of specialist black container paint. I did initially want to conceal the outside with a timber clad frame, but decided it was much more quirky to see the container. The same goes for the doors – I originally wanted to pin these back, but chose to have them set at 90 degrees to give the frontage more width. They will also come in handy as advertising boards should I wish."The doors are held in place by a simple steel bar, with brackets welded to the container. The steel bar can be removed, and the doors shut as normal – therefore still keeping its function as a container. I can, should I wish, close the doors, lift up the container, and relocate (although I hope they’ll never be the need!). Outside I’ve landscaped with stone around the sides, new turf at the front, and a deck platform.

"Overall, the container has provided me with an incredibly flexible, cost effective, and quirky solution. I’m already considering where to open a second one, and have had interest in providing 6 more conversions as cost effective offices."

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Shipping container garden office

East Anglia-based Timberpad design and build bespoke timber buildings and shipping container conversions - all their buildings are bespoke, there is no basic range. Following last week's theme, we're concentrating here on their shipping container office which as they say "looks right at home in any industrial setting until you open the container doors and see the contrast of the clean, contemporary interior".

All the conversions are fully insulated and potential features include glass sliding doors, oak flooring, underfloor heating. And of course it's easily transported. --------------------------------------------------------------------
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Glass Container Becomes Workplace

Earlier this month we looked at WURK's lavatory-inspired shedworking atmospheres and here's another interesting one sent to Shedworking from WURK's Jurjen Van Hulzen. This is what he says:

"This beautiful pragmatically designed polyester climb object, the glass container, is disappearing. It is replaced by the underground container, which also has its advantages. Yet it would be very unfortunate if these icons just end up on the scrap heap.

Wurk is blowing new life into the bright green dome. In the style of reuse, and cradle to cradle 'thinking green' this gets a new function. This micro architectural unit accommodates them who want to make a phone call, online meeting or powernap. The glass containers may be placed in every major room in the library, at the station or here at the airport."

Shipping container garden office

A nice piece by Ruth Mullen inThe Oregonian focuses on Mike Corvi (who sells luxury leather jackets) who has customised an 8ft x 20ft shipping container into a backyard office. It's a particularly useful article as it goes into some depth about just how the container was turned into something suitable for living and working (e.g. dealing with insulation and condensation issues). So happy is Corvi with the results that he's now planning to set up shop refurbishing containers as a business.Via Tiny House Design

ContainerVille

ContainerVille is a new initiative for young creatives looking for affordable shedlike atmospheres in which to work and grow their entrepreneurial businesses. It is made up of 30 converted storage containers on the south bank of Regent’s Canal, London, with low rent and minimal overheads so that small businesses can grow..

The containers are fully functioning spaces for up to five people per container - a whole container can be rented for £1,200 per month or individual desk spaces (each container has space for four desks) for £320pp per month. The goal is that ContainerVille becomes a dynamic hub of start-ups and small businesses, with landscaping around the containers geared to promote collaborative working and integration, with shared outdoor areas overlooking the canal.

Nearly a third of the containers were pre-let before the fit out was complete and viewings for the remaining containers are underway. More details at their site.

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Containerworking

Container City is a great idea from Urban Space Management Ltd: it takes old steel shipping containers, sticks them together and turns them into live/work spaces (and nurseries, youth centres and shops). It's fast, environmentally friendly and successful as can be seen at Container City at Trinity Buoy Wharf in London and Container City II right next door which is connected by bridges, lift and disabled access. The shedlike building rises colourfully over five floors.

Shipping container garden office

The Randy Bens Architecture practice in Canada embraced the shedworking ethic when it made a recent move to expand, not into a traditional office but to a garden office built from a larger than normal corten stell shipping container, reduced from 40′ to 28' long, 11.5′ wide and 9.5′ tall.

It has yellow cedar cladding on the outside and birch plywood lining on the inside where there is the studio work space, a small kitchen, and a bathroom. There is also a rather nice large picture window at one end and the whole thing cantilevers off the foundation. Below is an excellent short video of the office being delivered.
 Photographs by Ema Peter

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Kitchen Designer expands container-based offices

A year on from when we reported on Mark Hanner's The Kitchen Designer shedworking space - recycled shipping containers - Mark writes with the marvellous news that he's expanding by adding two new containers to the site (his goal is pictured above). Here's what he says:

The centre container is my existing showroom and will remain just that. I'll then have one as an office, and the other will be a gallery room/storage. Thats the plan anyway.

You can follow his progress at his blog here and we'll be checking back too here on Shedworking.
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Shipping container garden office

After a huge flurry of interest a couple of years ago in using shipping containers as buildings/building blocks, the excitement seems to have died down a little. However, we rather like this charming design by Shane Peterson who - using 3D Studio Max 2012, Vray and Photoshop - has turned a standard 20′ steel shipping container into a garden office which could be put together off site and then delivered to a home. -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Shipping container garden office at Chelsea Flower Show

It's turning into a bit of a bumper year for garden offices at Chelsea Flower Show 2011. Last week we looked at Marney Hall's and Phil Game's splendid creation and here is another great shedworking build which we looked at back in March, a garden office from Green Roof Shelters (being lifted into place in the video above - note the green roof).

The garden office - with habitat walls - has been built using a refurbished shipping container and is part of the RBC New Wild Garden designed by Nigel Dunnett (apparently the first full-size rain garden at a Chelsea Flower Show). Here's what the RHS says about it:

"The garden combines ecological awareness with an artistic and sculptural use of materials, and the theme of sustainability runs through the design. Reflective pools capture rainwater and sculptural dry stone walls present ever-changing views. The garden takes inspiration from the planting ideas of Victorian horticulturist William Robinson and a fresh look at the quality and craftsmanship of the Arts and Crafts movement to create this forward-looking wild garden."

Pictured below is a sketch of how it should look when completed.

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bsq design: shipping container offices

bsq design convert and modify shipping containers into garden offices and other shedlike structures. They walk the talk too and have recently converted a container to be their own mobile, off-grid office (pictured above and below) which they've bespoked to include solar panels, a green roof (does anybody not have a green roof nowadays?) and roof-top deck.Via MoCo Loco

Shedwork in a metal container

Using shipping containers as homes is a new-ish trend in the USA (but also here in the UK, see here), but they could of course also be used as excellent shedworking atmospheres - indeed the All Terrain Cabin is pretty much there already. One of the major names in the living container world is Lot-Ek who have also designed living spaces using recycled airplane fuselages. Above is an example of their work. It's sturdy, it's easily transportable and, while it might be a bit of a squeeze in many back gardens, eye-catching. There's a nice video at inhabitat of the Lot-Ek folk explaining their methods.
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Now playing: Madeleine Peyroux - I'm All Right
via FoxyTunes

Is there a market for shedworking in the USA?

It's a question we've talked about on Shedworking before as have other experts so we were particularly intrigued to hear about the experience of the New Forest Hut Company which has just exported one of its shepherds' huts to San Francisco.

The hust was picked up from their yard by a haulage company, loaded into a container and shipped to San Francisco, unloaded from the container, onto a truck and delivered to the beautiful Mill Valley home of their clients. Here's what they say:

"When the Shepherds Hut arrived it was in perfect condition (just needed a quick dust). Our clients were absolutely thrilled, all the neighbours came out to see this quaint 'English Hut on wheels' and although our clients had hardly ever spoken to their neighbours they threw an impromptu drinks party that evening to mark the New Forest Shepherds Hut’s arrival.

"Wheeling it into place took some effort as the house was, like so many homes in that area built on a hill. When in place the view from the open Stable door was of the San Francisco Bay Bridge, the view from side window was of the red wood trees in the hills – absolutely stunning!"

Apparently the weather was unseasonably hot but the new owners "were keen for the mist to roll in so that the temperature would drop and they could light the wood burning stove."
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Cantilevered shipping container garden office

Nice piece on designboom about architect Patrick Bradley's new shipping container office, designed and built in collaboration with Thornton Modular which specialises in turning shipping containers into a range of sizes suitable for working and living in (Bradley's is a TO45 model). Grand Designs fans will have seen their work on an episode aired last year (more details here).

container-life

With the marvellous strap line 'thinking outside the box, living in it', container-life is a blog focusing on living (and working) in buildings built from shipping containers. Pictured above is an example of Greg La Vardera's marvellous ibu_revolution design using this method of building. Well worth a browse.
Via This Tiny House
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The return of the shipping container garden office - Part 1

Using shipping containers as garden offices was very popular a few years ago and it seems to be on the way back into favour (see here for a recent example in York). An interesting article on the BBC site by Simon Fry - Boxing clever: The firms based in shipping containers - which concentrates largely on the 50 containers that make up Pop Brixton and Boxpark, both in London. Here's a snippet

Each offers start-up businesses a more affordable way to get a roof over their heads, and the opportunity to rub shoulders with other like-minded firms... In 2015, 2.48 million standard-size 40ft (12m) shipping containers arrived in the UK, but only 2.41 million left again, according to official figures from the Department for Transport. The ones that stay are typically retired from service due to wear and tear, and put up for sale. And if you fancy one as a large garden shed, you can pick one up for about £1,100.

Well worth a read. More on this subject tomorrow. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Greentainer Project

The Greentainer Project from Exposure Architects takes a 40ft container then transforms it into this lovely shedlike atmosphere which incorporates solar panels.
Via Jetson Green

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Shed Box of Delights: Green roof container garden office

Turning shipping containers into garden offices and buildings was flavour of the month half a dozen years ago and there are some signs that it is on trend again. The Grass Roof Company is among those putting forward some lovely designs, the one above built from two used containers and clad in larch featuring a wood burning stove. The company supplies them straight to site with green roof and habitat walls. Here's what they say about them:

We love used freight containers, they have already spent at least 10 years at sea, they are immensely strong and versatile. A perfect base to fix green roofs and habitat walls. Take the side away and you have a shelter for interpretation, cycle store, outdoor classroom or stage? A truly sustainable building, they can move with you or sell on complete!

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Swanky shed - Dreamtime Film

There's an excellent interview on Enterprise Nation with film producer Tom Lloyd of Dreamtime Film. Tom works out of what he calls his "swanky shed" in Windermere (pictured) and his relocation story of moving from London to Windermere is an inspiration to all shedworkers:

"It was a very conscious decision to leave the rat race of London and look for a different quality of life. Having left London, another door opened in Cumbria when I inherited some land and a herd of semi-feral Fell ponies... the digital revolution came at a good time for me and the reality was that I could now be doing on a laptop in my shed what was only a few years earlier costing £600 an hour in a post production facility. With the arrival of my daughter, moving my workplace from the kitchen table to a shed in the garden was an obvious choice."

Tom's only shedworking problem has been finding insurance cover for his equipment but now uses the increasingly popular route of using a shipping container as storage. He continues:

"I do find myself slipping into the shed to do late night changes to edits, and can find myself making changes to pitches or treatments late at night, but that can also be a very positive thing, being able to access my work at all hours. Also on a positive note, clients are always keen to get out of their office and come to me to view rough edits."

The full article is well worth a browse.

Best beach huts in the UK?

A nice piece in The Guardian suggests five great beach huts:
- Needleview, at Mudeford, Dorset
- the new retro huts to be opened in autumn in Bournemouth
- the hut near Westover Hall on the shingle at Milford-on-Sea
- the Beach Hut and Boat House in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight
- Elmdale Garden's hut at Walton-on-the-Naze., my personal favourite and pictured above and below. Here's what they say about it themselves:

"Our beach hut in Walton is one of the oldest,built rather like a cricket pavilion with its own verandah. Up on the second row with a beautiful view out to sea.
Inside our beach hut is a comfortable bench and a table and set of folding chairs. The verandah is big enough to sit two deck chairs, and keep you out of the direct sun and any blustery winds. Facilities include a gas cooker, a gas fridge, and a sink with a water container. We provide good quality stainless steel cutlery, and china cups and plates - no plastic."