The First Shipping Container Home in The Mojave Desert - Check Out the Rooftop Garden

Innovative Shipping Container Home Design

Ecotech Design created the very first Shipping Container Home in the Mojave Desert alongside the building branch of the company Ecotech Build. The container home is located near Joshua Tree, California, and is called The Tim Palen Studio at Shadow Mountain. It acted as a prototype for more live/work buildings of a similar style that the company now builds. This home is 2,300 square feet with one bedroom and one and a half bathrooms and was constructed out of six shipping containers and pre-made steel components. It was built for only $200 per square foot, which includes the foundation, making it a very cost-effective home build. The home features a solar home shading system which will block the sun and wind from the building reducing heat in the home since it is in the hot desert. They also installed a solar breezeway and an area for solar panels as well. On the roof, they incorporated a garden that's portable and uses a grey water irrigation system. The succulent and sedum plants they planted will absorb the heat as well which acts as cooling for the home. It also helps to keep the dust levels lower around the house and inside the home too. Painting the exterior walls of the shipping containers white also helps to deflect the heat of the sun creating a cooler environment inside.

Water Conservation and Sustainable Materials

They implemented water conservation with a greywater system, water collection and storage systems. Along with using the recycled shipping containers, they were able to use local materials and other highly efficient products to create a home that works in the hottest of locations. These homes can also be built in any other part of the country and anywhere in the world. All of the parts are prefabricated in the company's warehouse, and then, once everything is transported to the building site, the home is easy to assemble and can be built within days. This particular design mixes elements of modern design with industrial design adding the silos on the property along with the home. They created the home by stacking shipping containers on top of each other to create the different levels of the home. Using white shipping containers and lots of glass windows makes for a very sleek and modern design. Their design process consists of contract negotiation and planning, then designing, engineering and estimating the costs of the project. Then, the construction drawings are provided so the customer can apply for permits and once the permits are gained, the prefabricated container home can be shipped to the site and assembled. The process is much like a regular home building process except faster since everything can be done ahead of time.

Functional Living and Working Spaces

This home includes the main part of the home as well as a large garage which would be the perfect place to store vehicles and other items. You can see how well they incorporated the windows in the home to suit the design with all of the metal of the shipping containers. The container residence also features a studio structure which makes it the perfect place to live and work from home so as to separate work from the downtime. There's also a nice outdoor area to sit that's protected from the wind and sun which is a must-have in the desert. It also generates cool air with its passive cooling effects. Ecotech build was started in 2010, and they've been providing design services to clients along with affordable and practical options. Using the shipping containers for their homes they are able to reduce costs and keep the built very environmentally friendly since they don't need to use lumber for the build.