3 Bedroom Tropical Shipping Container Home, Indonesia

Floor plans / Drawings

About Atelier Riri

Architect	Atelier Riri
Area	155 m² (1670 ft²)
Containers	4
Bedrooms	3
Year	2014
Location	Jatiasih, Indonesia
Photographs	Teddy Yunantha
Architect In Charge	Arga Putra Rachman
Project Director	Novriansyah Yakub
Construction company	ASKALA Indonesia

Description by the project team. 

Atelier Riri was challenged to design a 3 bedroom shipping container home using reused containers, in an area of ​​150 sqm.

The tropical shipping container home is located in Bekasi, a suburb near the big city of Jakarta. Where there are homes for young couples with 2 children. In addition to the basic necessities, and bringing the family together in a living space, the owners also wanted to add a hobby room as an activity area for the children and their parents.

The 3 bedroom shipping container home consists of 4 overlapping and crisscrossing installed shipping containers. These containers serve secondary needs, such as the hobby room, especially since space is limited and thermal comfort is still below average, although several additional layers have actually been added to the ceiling to lower the interior temperature. This includes the installation of a metal mesh for plant propagation and glass wool insulation over the pine wood.

The movement of people inside the tropical shipping container home, is continuous, exploring each space that could be more entertaining for the occupants. Stairs and ramps reach each floor and the part of the house that is divided by a large void in its center. We also made additional space by using a wooden deck on the top. This space can be used to gather the family while enjoying the fresh air in the morning or midday.

To continue the spirit of recycling materials, all the wood in the project is used pine. The metal plates are arranged to form a connection between the container frame and the door. We also focus on reducing materials, such as floors, made of polished concrete, unfinished wood furniture, and brick wall that was only painted to reduce the use of cement.

The roof garden is also used as an extended space from the containers.

We strongly believe that this 3 bedroom shipping container home will give a new definition to contemporary tropical Indonesian homes.

Shipping Containers in Tropical Island House, Lombok, Indonesia

Floor plans
About architect

Project	Clay House, Seven Havens Residence
Architect	Budi Pradono
Location	Selong Belanak, Lombok, Indonesia
Containers	2
Year	2016

Shipping containers in this tropical island house in Lombok (Indonesia) appears to be slipping away from the rooftop of the residence. Clay House is built on a green hill in a beachside area Selong Belanak, in the southern West Nusa Tenggara province of an Indonesian Lombok island east of Bali.

The tropical island house is made up of two volumes set on concrete pillars to rise above surrounding tropical landscape and face towards the beautiful Indian Ocean. Seven Havens Residence is the name was given to the house by the owner.

The surroundings are currently undeveloped and architects say the shipping containers island house will be become a landmark in this place.

"In the presence of this location on the hill of course we have to be careful because this building will automatically become an icon of the surrounding environment," said the Budi Pradono architects.





Two shipping containers are placed at the highest point of the building, and are angled upward at 60 degrees to create a large space in the master bedroom. High ceiling allows a big window with glass doors that open to a wide terrace. The exterior of the tropical island house is painted white to reflect the sunlight and avoid overheating of the building constructions.

The shipping containers were sourced from a sea port of a nearby island; the containers still bear a "7h" orange logo. Building materials are cheap and local sourced. The clay for the walls was collected in the Lombok island, 20 kilometres from the building site and treated with a mixture of cement, sand, cow dung, and straw. To prevent overheating in the humid and hot climate the walls were built 30 centimetres thick.

Internal cladding was made using flattened bamboo. To make most of bamboo starch stay in the plant roots, the bamboo was harvested at night when no photosynthesis process was taking place. Bamboo then underwent a preservation process, which included submersion in a salt sea water for 60 days and after this a coating of paint. Other exposed natural materials were used throughout the tropical island house to complement the interior, like stone tiling and heavy wooden furniture.

Contertainer - Shipping Container Public Facility - Polyclinic and Library, Indonesia

About Dpavilion Architects

Design: Dpavilion Architects
Location: Kota Batu, East Java, Indonesia
Containers: 8
Photography: Ganny Gozaly




Description from architects

"Contertainer, designed by dpavilion architects of Surabaya – Indonesia, is an amalgam of two words: container and entertainer. From its outer look, at a glance one can see an architectural form made of several brightly painted containers—red, yellow, blue and light green—in attractive position and composition, thus forming a contertainer.

Principal architects of dpavilion, Edwin Nafarin, once muttered: “I want to create architecture that would please many”. Contertainer is one of his works that manifests his architectural creed.

Contertainer Is situated in Batu, East Jawa, Indonesia. Batu is a relatively new town which still retains a strong agricultural nuance. Perhaps it is a town with a village-like atmosphere. Contertainer is a public facility, consisting of a polyclinic and a library, where ordinary people can come and use the facilities for free. The appearance of the contertainer in town can be perceived through various angles, for the appearance of an architectural work would be followed by many effects which it produces.

One question to reveal: why dpavilion architects, as a designer of polyclinic and public library, started its idea from container? Perhaps there are several factors. First, a logical one: container is a firm structure with human-scaled spatial aspect (in spite of its real purpose as container of goods), so it is rather practical, quick and cheap to be transformed into architectural work (a 2,4m x12m used container costs only 8 million rps, there are 8 containers). Second, a morphological factor: container has a unique characteristic, a hollow block with standardized sizes, with potentialities to be designed with extreme and provocative manner. Third, symbolical factor: these containers, now utilized as a polyclinic and library, had travelled around the globe. Hence, a container is a true adventurer.

The containers utilized as a polyclinic and library are used container, a true adventurer, is undoubtedly representing the library. Books, “the windows to the world”, are placed inside such container; an appropriate collaboration, is it not? May it stimulate the children reading at the library, fulfilling their curiousities to explore terra incognita.




Also, a container has dynamic nature, it moves and shifts, yet it also transformed into static, unshifting architectural being. To force a container to remain still, is seemingly against its dynamic nature. Yet the designers celebrate its dynamic form through a twisted, non-linear composition. This is enhanced with supporting columns placed uncongruently, making the contertainer enjoys its dynamism.

The contertainer is also a parody, the dichotomy of architecture as a place for activities (which considers human scale) and as expression (expressing emotion and the will of artist), the contertainer exhibits containers of goods as containing human beings. We may ponder upon this: how important is human being for architecture? How un-important is human being for architecture?"