ShanghaiContainer House
Shanghai container houses come in many types, covering renovation cases, multi-story buildings, products at different price points, and custom services. Application scenarios are rich, and installation has specific precautions.
On renovation cases, there are projects that combine four containers each 3 meters wide and 6 meters long into a two-story apartment (72 square meters total) and transform it into a remarkable villa. The original living conditions were poor—no toilet or kitchen, weak sound insulation and daylight, and no thermal insulation. Challenges included the owner's wish to create an office area for 20 staff within the 36-square-meter ground floor while also planning basic zones such as kitchen and bathroom.
On container multi-story buildings, in 2014 a three-story structure made of more than ten discarded containers stacked together appeared on Dukou Road in Sanlin Town, Pudong New Area, Shanghai. Temporary doorplates hung on the facade; some areas were used as potted-plant greenhouses, and a nearby sign advertised a “container agricultural utilization research institute.” The building existed for a long time but was recently vacant; temporary doorplates were mainly for logistics positioning and did not involve building legality or property rights.
On prices and types, Shanghai sells many types of container houses with prices varying by type and configuration. Assembled container activity-house office combo / site pack-flat / mobile container house $62.5/4 square meters; tempered-glass mobile container house / screw-joined shop office / sunroom / rooftop platform prefab house $178; small mobile container room / storage / electrical cabinet / simple screw-assembled activity house / staff dormitory office $903 per unit; custom space-capsule mobile container house / apple cabin / mobile stall kiosk / tempered-glass prefab house $22,222, and so on.
On custom services, Shanghai Yaotuo Container Co., Ltd. offers non-standard container house customization, including energy-storage containers, new-energy equipment boxes, industrial containers, and commercial containers. Container houses install quickly and can be reused. Installation notes include drainage and water supply (the floor level should be higher than surroundings; dig drainage ditches around the box; add a pitched “A-frame” canopy on top for rainwater runoff; water can connect to the municipal system or add a tank), thermal insulation (add sound- and heat-insulation cotton and install air conditioning), and lightning protection (in mountains or wilderness, install lightning rods).
