| Shipping Container House Design with Minimalist Grit by Larry Lucas, AIA |
| About Larry Lucas, AIA |
| About Cisco Containers, L.L.C. |
| About 360 Engineering Group, PLLC |
| Architect | Larry Lucas, AIA |
| Shipping container modifications | Cisco Containers, L.L.C. |
| Structural engineer | 360 Engineering Group, PLLC |
| Containers | 1x40ft |
| Location | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| Year | 2016 |
| Owner | Josh McBee |
| Photography | Josh McBee |
| Project cost | $60,000 |
Josh McBee first saw a shipping container home online one day in late 2012. His one-bedroom apartment in Venice Beach, California was feeling progressively smaller, and the blue guest house he saw online made from a big metal box caught his attention.
"I saw the container guest house in Austin. It was 20 feet long, and I thought to myself, 'I could live in that full-time,'" he said.
Four years and several moves later, he did just that. McBee is now one of the thousands who are using shipping containers to build homes, and the trend is expected to grow even more. According to Market Watch, shipping containers as homes are expected to increase globally by 6.5% annually from 2019 to 2025.
For McBee, the simplicity of the living area in a container and the low utility costs appealed to him the most.
McBee converted his walk-in closet in the one-bedroom in Venice Beach into his own personal bedroom, and rented out the bedroom to travelers through online couch-surfing and vacation rental sites in 2009. He supplemented his income as an industrial researcher and economic analyst through the rentals.
But that blue shipping container guest house he saw stuck with him. In 2013, he quit his job and spent six months traveling from Lisbon to Tokyo. "I knew I couldn't go back to Los Angeles, and I couldn't do a shipping container home there," he said. "But I could do it in Oklahoma City."
