Alexis Stephens ~ From Sea To Vacant Lot: A Shipping Container Condo Rises In Newark

Rendering of the container condo headed to Newark (Credit: C+C Architecture)

When it comes to building more affordable housing, you can get creative with financing — or you can completely rethink the single-family home.
Eschewing traditional construction materials, a team in Newark, New Jersey, is building a three-family home out of 18 shipping containers on a vacant lot, an approach that’s becoming more popular in design circles.

“Tiny living” enthusiasts have been raving about container houses for years, but the trend has just moved stateside fairly recently. So far, models have ranged from high-end (and high-priced) extravagance to off-the-grid boxes at bargain prices. Development partners Cor10 Concepts and Community Asset Preservation Corporation (CAPC) are shooting for somewhere in between; they hope that their first dwelling, built in Newark’s historic Lincoln Park neighborhood, will jumpstart other forward-thinking design projects in the stagnant housing market.