Containers of Hope: More container designs

You will probably have noticed by now that I have a love for small spaces, preferably using containers. I believe that as the world expands in people and diseases fail to curb the growing mass, that the value of space will continue to increase. And, majority of people in my age group and less prefer smaller - we are essentially not live on a farm in the middle of no-where people and if I have space I wanna share it with my stylish wardrobe people. Hence why I think Social Housing should realistically focus on providing high quality space at a low cost for the rich and wasteful as well as the have-nots and have not. When I was studying most of the Social Housing Architecture projects where concentrated either in South Africa or Brazil, Argentina etc. formerly first world, currently third world countries essentially. At present I think South Africa is less inclined towards Social Housing with a decline in notable projects in this country, but Latin America is still going strong, if not better.

This project below is by Benjamin Garcia Saxe Architecture  and is located on the outskirts of San Jose, Costa Rica. Costa Rica happens to be the greenest country in the world.  It has been dubbed 'Containers of Hope' and the design proves that just because something is low costs, does not mean one loses out on quality. I would live in this, if the architect was willing to doll out his construction details, I would buy me some land and live in this. The total cost of the building project was 40000 USD (R340 000). Not only is this lower than the average cost of social housing in Costa Rica, but it is about one forth cheaper, than the current cost of a house in South Africa in an upmarket surburb, which goes for about R1, 200 000 and is the current cost of a subsidised house in a township.

The roof between the two containers not only provides additional light but also adequate ventilation to cool the space during summer. The insulation of the walls, controls heat loss through the building skin, during winter. What about the glass you may ask; do you know that thick curtains can reduce heat loss in winter by up to 68%. That is the only reason why I have summer and winter curtains. Mine are dark victorian red, in velvet. Well they will be the minute I buy material to make them.

The Architects design philosophy is his commitment to explore 'The particularities of technology, resources, and materials as they relate to time and location, and how these may begin to propose new ways to understand space and design.' This is clearly evident because the orientation of the unit not only maximises on views, but natural light either in summer or winter.