Would You Live in a Shipping Container? Epic Upcycling Project Planned

Three Squared Inc. is developing the Exceptional Green Living on Rosa Parks project with architect Steven C. Flug. (Screenshot: WXYZ video)

_____________

An empty lot in Corktown, Detroit’s oldest neighborhood, could become home to trendy housing called “container-miniums” that are made from, as the moniker implies, shipping containers, WXYZ, Channel 7, reports.

The project, called Exceptional Green Living on Rosa Parks, could spark a migration to the historic neighborhood among young people and further fuel the resurgence of Corktown, originally an Irish enclave.

In recent years, an eclectic community of restaurateurs, shopkeepers, craft cocktailers and others have transformed Corktown one of the most up-and-coming neighborhoods in the country.

Tell Us:

• Would you live in a development built with shipping containers? What would you do if a similar development were proposed in your neighborhood?

Gabriel Azzopardi, a bartender at Casey’s Pub, a quintessential neighborhood bar and a Corktown fixture for three decades, told WXYZ the smaller units are an attractive alternative as he contemplates moving back to the area.

“I, like a lot of people, would like to have a little less space than what’s available in the area,” he said. “There have been a lot of businesses that have been opening in the last few years. Corktown is making a little bit of a comeback, I should say and if they are going to add more space for people to live, we are going to obviously have more people in the area.”

Containers no longer just an adaptation by “resourceful squatters” seeking shelter from the elements, but are “building blocks” in everything from luxury residences to movable cafes to skyscrapers, Popular Mechanics said.

“Shipping containers can be readily modified with a range of creature comforts, and can be connected and stacked to create modular, efficient spaces for a fraction of the cost, labor and resources of more conventional materials,” the magazine said.

Projects like the one planned in Corktown bring upcycling and recycling to new levels, and address a perplexing problem about what to do with tens of thousands of shipping containers piling up. As many as 21,000 shipping containers arrive in the United States every day and many are abandoned, according to architect Steven C. Flum, the designer for Three Squared Inc.’s The Power of Green LLC.

“Many have been used once, originating in China and traveling across the seas and not being re-used because it is actually cheaper for China to build a new shipping container rather than shipping it back for reuse,” Flum wrote on his website.

A neighbor living near the proposed project at Rosa Parks Blvd. and Kaline Drive, David Parzyck, told WXYZ that he’s excited about the project.

“It’s recyclable,” he said. “It seems to work in other countries, other cities. So, I think it can work here.”

Flum’s design for a four-level, multi-family building includes 17 units – including studio, one, two and three-bedroom units – ranging in size from 960-1,920 square feet. Balconies and landscaped patios are planned, The Detroit News said.

Construction of a model unit is expected to occur this fall for a 2015 opening. Pre-selling of units is expected to begin soon.