"The first U.S. multi-family condo built of used shipping containers is slated to break ground in Detroit early next year."
There are good reasons nobody has done this before.
Among them is that despite more than a decade of attempts to to create such projects, shipping containers remain grossly ill-suited for conversion to dwellings. Their dimensions are poor for commodious habitation; they remain uninsulated, unfenestrated, and expensive to modify due to unibody construction; and in relatively short supply for the purpose.
It makes little more sense than cutting teddy bears lengthwise to make carpet slippers.
Maybe not for multi-family condos, but the Dutch seem to have a great time with their shipping containers. This student housing complex is quite popular:
Granted, affordable housing is in short supply in the Netherlands, while there's plenty of shipping containers considering that Rotterdam is the biggest port in Europe.
The Australian National University was having problems with the supply of student accommodation, so they built a couple of wings with over 100 shipping container-based modular units:
There are good reasons nobody has done this before.
Among them is that despite more than a decade of attempts to to create such projects, shipping containers remain grossly ill-suited for conversion to dwellings. Their dimensions are poor for commodious habitation; they remain uninsulated, unfenestrated, and expensive to modify due to unibody construction; and in relatively short supply for the purpose.
It makes little more sense than cutting teddy bears lengthwise to make carpet slippers.