Container Heads Rejoice A New Container Baby | The Cordell Shipping Container House

Photographer: Jill Hunter

Container Heads around the world, start rejoicing. Yes, a new container house has been born and it’s a Texan. The developers (Numen) and family are calling it the Cordell House and here is what they have to say about their new baby.

Developer -The Cordell House is the result of a 2-year design discussion between the builders and the designers. It was conceived as an exercise in efficient building, with the most expensive aspects of the house – the structural elements and mechanical core – being partially prefabricated in a shop environment. The roof and infill floor areas are a panelized system that, in conjunction with the modular steel structure, allowed a very rapid dry-in time for the building, reducing on-site time and susceptibility to weather-related delays. This approach to construction also resulted in a home that can be substantially dismantled into component parts for reuse or recycling at the end of its useful life.

Before I the let developer babble on with traditional boring speak about this new container baby, I would just like to say, this thing is sexy. Really think about it, we are looking at a few very used shipping containers. Something a drunken homeless guy might piss on before living in. Right? The developers here really did an amazing job on the design side. The space is bright, happy, and very functional. Look how they used the yellow plastic or glass in the living room to bring in light and mimic the steel container walls. Also, breaking the space up with the open air deck and guest container, allows for some adventure. You don’t see everything instantly. You have to work for it. Okay back to developer speak.. Continue.

Cordell House is located in the Brooke Smith Addition at 206 Cordell. It was developed by Numen Development, L.P. and designed by architect Christopher Robertson of Robertson Design. The house is a 3 bedroom, 3 bath, 1858 sf single-story residence on a single 5000 sf lot. Its steel structural shell, made from recycled shipping containers, is an extremely durable and materially efficient building system. The roof and floors are structural insulated panels, which significantly exceed code-required insulation values. The project also features an on-demand hot water heater, extremely high-efficiency Unico A/C system, RenewAire energy recovery ventilation system, bamboo flooring, low-emission paints and fiberboard products, energy efficient appliances, and efficient plumbing and electrical fixtures.

Numen Development attempts to divert shop waste products to recycling resources whenever possible, and does not maintain dumpsters at either the warehouse or on the jobsite. Cordell House produced 10 contractor bags of trash during the ENTIRE building process. The emphasis on waste reduction extends to choices of building materials. No sheetrock was used in the project, and wood framing was minimal.