Wiercinski-studio, an architecture and design studio based in Poland, has created a portable tiny home.
But unlike most tiny homes currently available on the market, Wiercinski-studio’s isn’t a prefabricated unit built on a trailer.
Instead, the tiny home is made out of defunct shipping containers, giving the large metal boxes a new life.
We all know of shipping containers, or maybe the lack thereof, as one of the sources of our ongoing supply chain woes.
But as thousands of shipping containers remain backlogged at major ports and ocean carriers continue to struggle with sourcing the large metal boxes …
… interest in shipping container-based living units — whether it be tiny homes, pools, or hotels — has skyrocketed.
An example of one of these units is Wiercinski-studio’s portable tiny home, which was constructed out of two shipping containers.
Combined, the two containers create a 39.4-foot by 8.2-foot tiny home that stands at 9.5 feet tall.
The studio left the container’s recognizable corrugated sheet metal exterior to “show the sincerity of the raw construction material,” although it was still painted green to camouflage into its surroundings, according to a press release.
But inside, the 581.3-square-foot home looks nothing like a cold metal unit used to transport goods.
The home has a living room with a minimalist kitchen and office space, a bedroom …
… and a bathroom complete with a bathtub, sink, and toilet.
There’s also a 258.3-square-foot terrace for outdoor lounging among the trees.
The minimalist home was a one-off project for a “couple of brave people who … are interested in searching for interesting and difficult to adapt spaces,” according to the press release.
To accommodate to this “difficult” location, the shipping container cabin was prefabricated off-site …
… and later transported by truck and crane to its current location before its finishing touches were completed.
“Prefabrication of the cabin in the production hall means great savings and convenient production conditions,” Adam Wiercinski, the founder of the studio, told Insider in an email, echoing other prefab home makers.
“Workers have all the materials on site, transport is limited, and you can create [no matter] the weather conditions,” he said.
The tiny home is currently located in a community garden in Poland.
But in the future, the little living unit will be relocated to a forest and wherever its nomadic owners choose to live next.
To bring its surrounding lush environment into the home, the interior is lined with large windows.
But the container home isn’t limited to just gardens and forests.
According to Wiercinski, the tiny home can function on any terrain, whether it be in someone’s backyard or on a rented plot of land.
Its current owners are also interested in placing the home on a floating platform or device, allowing it to stand above water.
And unlike traditional construction, which damages the land beneath it, the tiny home has a smaller physical footprint: It can hang suspended above ground so long as it has support at its corners, Wiercinski said.
The studio spent between four to six months transforming the two containers into a full functioning home …
… and Wiercinski predicts a “base version” of the tiny house could be built for $50,000.
This may seem expensive for a little home, but according to Wiercinski, there are several benefits to having a house based in a shipping container: “Adaptation of containers is not much cheaper than standard construction, but mobility is a great advantage,” Wiercinski said.
