We designed this unique luxury home for a family working with one of our corporate clients, a turnkey manufacturer who used shipping containers as the core modules for their manufacturing center. As usual, we worked directly with the manufacturer’s client to design the home of their dreams.
Arms to Embrace the Family
The parents for this family of three wanted a solid vision for their home, which they sought to place on a just-right piece of property in the mountains of North Carolina. As a container-based building, their home would be site assembled and finished.
In consideration of the lifestyle this new home must support, dad worked at night and slept during the day, mom loved to cook and entertain, and both father and son are gamers. The couple said spending time together as a family was important to them, whether this time was spent indoors or out.
So, hmm… Food, games, and movies indoors…? Incorporate some outdoor living…? Could there be a barbeque with a view…?
Oh yeah. That all sounds fun and yummy!
Contemporary Container Home
Road-ready containers provide the building blocks for these homes, offer nearly endless arrangement options, and define the outside-to-outside dimensions we really need to get going with design. Armed with a snapshot sense of the family’s wants and needs, we started putting the pieces together.
We proposed a host of simple “paper box” envelope massing options to convert the outer shell of their new house from a bunch of big cold metal boxes into their warm and comfy home. The family chose the U-shaped arrangement of 20′ and 40′ shipping containers that you see here.
Designed for its Future Vista
Moving to the next step we addressed access, entry, egress, and area layout.
The family hoped to settle on something with a view, so we used a single floor layout that was designed to work well on either a flat or a sloped lot, and designed it for orientation of its outstretched arms toward either majestic mountainous views or a high-perched lakeside setting.
To account for access, parking, and shelter from weather, we added a large carport to the broad bottom of the U-shaped home. That meant we needed to make the most of that shallow and predominately utilitarian space, so we added doors that opened into a surprisingly expansive entryway.
To combat any sense of discomfort from entering a dark cramped container-based space, we added a high ceiling and used tall windows that revealed a friendly deck that steps down into an outdoor entertainment area and cozy courtyard that can be used for a wide variety of activities (our home would have an endless pool and hot tub combo, but I digress : )
Our collective hope was that the open end of this outdoor alcove would one day reveal beautiful views of their future mountainside escape with potential for private patio entries and/or bedroom balconies.
Modern Family Living Arrangements
We designed in open living spaces on the entryway side of the family’s dream home.
Then, looking at other interior spaces of the container-based layout, we created regions of the home that accounted for the family’s concurrent needs for dad’s daytime sleeping, mom’s clanging cookware, and loud and raucous gaming by both the boys.
To top off the wish list, we added a private office for dad, an easily accessed bedroom closet for mom, and a nice ensuite master bath. Throughout, pocket doors offer privacy amidst an openness that offers modern appeal with maximum space utilization by minimizing swinging doors.
Wrapping it Up for Estimates
After a couple of drafts, we finalized the layout adding some furniture to offer a sense of scale to confirm the home would meet their overall needs for use, want for flow, and desire of appeal. While at it, we offered an initial layout for outlets, lights, and switches, incorporated some exterior styling, and added a few features to the courtyard to help them envision the options.
We worked together as a team to tweak the interior layout, and finished by focusing on finalizing their future home’s exterior appeal that included a mix of modern materials and finishes that were complimented by some classic architectural elements.
We used bold stone and tapered columns to dress up the carport, covered the home with comforting cedar shake, and trimmed it out with some sturdy timber frame elements. Operable hurricane shutters add true utility and security while helping their home stand out by blending into the woodland environment they sought to find and purchase.
Final-Final Drafts for Quotation
As is often the case, the family’s budget was a bit lower than the manufacturer’s initial estimate, so we worked again as a team to make some final-final adjustments.
Thus is the nature of building design and it’s nearly endless ebb of options that flow into new found preferences and cost savings. We chopped back the double-stack of containers at the entryway and trimmed away the pull-through carport in favor of a tidy little porch. To further cut their up-front costs and account for long-term energy efficiency, we dropped a few exterior doors and shortened the floor-to-ceiling windows a bit.
In the end, this family was armed with the essentials to move forward with the process of finding that just-right piece of property, securing building and construction estimates, seeking initial municipal approval, and contracting others to bring their future container home to completion.
We love happy clients and their incredible projects!