You might not want to live in a shipping container permanently, but now you can test-drive one for a night or two at the affordable, streamlined and modern Ccasa Hostel in Vietnam. Colorful cargo containers are stacked on top of each other to create a tower of rentable rooms, set within an open air framework that takes advantage of the tropical local climate. Located in Nha Trang just a three-minute walk from the beach, it’s intended for backpackers who flock to the area to enjoy local mineral spring resorts and temples.

The design of the hostel is based on that of a family home, with lots of beds sharing bathroom, kitchen and living room facilities. Some of the converted shipping containers offer private bedrooms, while others are packed full of bunks in traditional hostel fashion. The containers are seen as just a place to sleep or rest in between adventures or socializing in the common areas.

Ccasa Hostel contains three functional blocks: the sleeping block, the washing block and the serving block. The serving block is made of steel frames and black painted metal sheets, and the washing block mimics typical Vietnamese architecture with white-painted bricks and concrete. The three colors of the shipping containers denote different kinds of bedrooms.

Instead of the dank, dark corridors you’d usually find in a cheap hostel, there are breezy open-air walkways looking down onto the courtyard below, which is filled with trees. A system of ropes and steel framing encourages climbing vines to obscure the shipping containers on the rear of the building, and as it grows, it’ll create a living screen that filters air, light and noise.

Early explorers in the realm of prefab shipping container-based architecture, design studio LOT-EK stacks these steel crates to create everything from compact homes to massive retail complexes. Making aesthetics and functionality equally important, LOT-EK gives the containers a visual dynamism while keeping its structures economical, portable and easy to assemble.

Sanlitun South

Bright red shipping containers burst out of the facade of the Sanitlun South retail complex in Beijing, “organized like a medieval village with a dense fabric of narrow alleys, low-rise buildings, elevated walkways and bridges connection all levels.” Eight-foot-wide shipping containers inserted randomly throughout the structure determine the rhythm of the whole, functioning as canopies over the retail store entrances on the exterior and functioning as small lobbies for stores on the inside.

Whitney Studio

Six stacked steel shipping containers form a dense, minimalist cube functioning as an ultra-modern art studio space for the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. The 700-square-foot, 2-story space features a vivid yellow diagonal slice running up to the roof to create a skylight.

PUMA City Shipping Container Store

Transported from Spain to Stockholm to Boston, PUMA’s pop-up store had to be highly portable and easy to assemble and disassemble. LOT-EK retrofitted 24 shipping containers to create a retail and event building that could go from one international port to the next, but still feel fresh and dynamic and highly functional. The four-story space features double-height ceilings, a downstairs retail space, upstairs offices and storage, and a bar and open terrace on the top. 40-foot-long shipping containers along the outside join and secure the whole structure both horizontally and vertically.

APAP OpenSchool

The APAP2010 OpenSchool building serves as a recreational space for a public art program at an art school in South Korea, and also as a testing ground for ‘radical container assemblies with high sculptural potential.’ 8 containers are cut along a 45-degree angle and assembled in what LOT-EK describes as “a fishbone pattern generating a large arrow-like volume lifted three meters over the landscape.” The bent container offers access from the pedestrian path outside to the upper levels of the building.

C-Home

C-Home is a series of pre-fabricated homes upcycling shipping containers to provide anywhere from 300 to 1300 square feet of living space. Since they’re made of recycled materials – and shipping containers are composed of strong Cor-ten steel – they’re both affordable and durable. Folding cut-outs in the facade let in light and provide a terrace when open.

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Containertecture Shipping Crate Based Buildings By Lot Ek

Shipping container architecture is one of the biggest (relatively) new things in building these days. With the low cost, environmentally friendliness, and availability of the materials, it’s no wonder that more and more architects are getting turned on to the possibilities of shipping containers. They’re perfect for more than just building houses; they are also the ideal material for low-cost communal and emergency housing. For dorms, urban apartments, jails and emergency shelters, shipping containers provide an ideal jumping-off point. We’ve already seen some of the most incredible single-family shipping container homes out there; now here’s a look at some of the best group housing solutions using steel shipping containers.  Click the thumbnails below for more images of and information on these amazing designs: