Would you live in a tin can? Welcome home!

[Bateluer]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/10/06/house.in.can/index.html

Soup can-shaped homes could be cropping up on a street near you very soon.

Addressing affordable housing shortages across America, Philadelphia-based architects Aleksandr Mergold and Jason Austin, of firm Austin + Mergold, have come up with the innovative idea of making pre-fabricated housing using farm grain dryers.

The can-shaped structures, which Mergold described to CNN as "icons of the American landscape," can be easily purchased and assembled and encompass 2,000 square feet of living space.

Homes-in-a-can either have one or two levels, with the option of a greenhouse on the roof.

They can also be linked to other cans. As long as you have land to build on, the potential to keep adding to them is limitless.

"If you start a family, you can always expand into a complex," said Mergold.

Clients in the market for these innovative housing designs range from Nebraska to Canada and the firm is now working on a prototype "pool-in-a-can."

These actually look kinda neat. I've seen the steel shipping container houses before, and thought they looked alright, but a little 'mobile' home-ish. These cylindrical houses look pretty neat, and 2k sq feet is a decent amount of space.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure anyone trying to purchase/assemble one of these is going to face one heck of a fight with their HOA.

 

[htwingnut]

That wouldn't be so bad. Just curious on cost. With the current mortgage crisis in the US, where you can buy a decent 1500 sq. foot home for < $40k in many places across the USA, I can't see these catching on really well at the moment.

 

[coxmaster]

Yeah, I dont expect see any of these popping up anywhere near me

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

1. It would probably be noisy.
2. Good luck putting your flat edged furniture or other stuff flush up against a wall. And hanging mirrors. Or art.

 

[JEDI]

i wonder why he picked farm silos?
do we have an excess of them?

and if we do, does it exceed the millions of shipping containers abondoned at the docks? (it's cheaper to leave them at our docks than bring them back to the port of origin.)

 

[Vic Vega]

Metal buildings can be inexpensive compared to traditional construction. However, with home prices returning to realistic values across North America it's hard to see these catching on.

 

[Bateluer]

1. It would probably be noisy.
2. Good luck putting your flat edged furniture or other stuff flush up against a wall. And hanging mirrors. Or art.

I would think #1 could be addressed pretty easily. Your interior walls aren't going to be bare metal, after all. Likely the exterior walls would have some form of coating or stucco as well, they wouldn't be bare metal either.

I was curious about #2 as well. Decorating and furnishing the interior would be different and unique compared to a traditional house. You could easily get canvas artwork that would curve with the walls, and I've seen curved and rounded furniture before, so it could be done.

 

[sdifox]

1. It would probably be noisy.
2. Good luck putting your flat edged furniture or other stuff flush up against a wall. And hanging mirrors. Or art.

You think people looking for affordable housing would care about that?

 

[borisvodofsky]

N0000bs... I can finally fulfill my dream of my own missile silo,, they'll never catch me now.. muahahahahahaha.... it'll be all legiti...

 

[zinfamous]

I would get like 5 cans and connect them all with land bridges, some of them rope bridges, and make my own Ewok Village.

 

[zinfamous]

I would think #1 could be addressed pretty easily. Your interior walls aren't going to be bare metal, after all. Likely the exterior walls would have some form of coating or stucco as well, they wouldn't be bare metal either.

I was curious about #2 as well. Decorating and furnishing the interior would be different and unique compared to a traditional house. You could easily get canvas artwork that would curve with the walls, and I've seen curved and rounded furniture before, so it could be done.

yeah, this design style isn't that new--I believe Buckminster Fuller had some economical, space-conscious cylindrical designs back in the 50s.

it seemed the most common complaint was installing any kind of typical furniture. Everything had to be custom, and very expensive.

 

[Leros]

1. It would probably be noisy.
2. Good luck putting your flat edged furniture or other stuff flush up against a wall. And hanging mirrors. Or art.

It would reduce the living space, but they could build square walls inside. The windows would be deep, but it would work.

 

[htwingnut]

You wouldn't need curved furniture, there would just be a slight gap behind the couch or whatever. I mean the specs showed the can at 36 foot diameter, that's 113 foot circumference. You do the math, and a 7 foot long couch might have a gap to the wall of 5-6 inches at worse in the center. No big deal.

 

[Jeff7]

It would reduce the living space, but they could build square walls inside. The windows would be deep, but it would work.

Screw that, get a few good hammers, and pound that malleable building into a better shape.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Yeah, I dont expect see any of these popping up anywhere near me

same

 

[SSSnail]

So wtf is the difference between this and shipping container houses? What a rip-off!

 

[Bignate603]

What are they using to insulate the walls? Without a nice insulation layer that house is going to either be ridiculously hot or ridiculously cold depending on the weather.

I kind of like the idea of a greenhouse in the roof though.

 

[herm0016]

their plan shows stud walls as a 10 or so sided polygon on the inside. I would experiment with putting a can inside a can and insulating between the two. both would be free standing and you would not need any structure between them that would conduct heat/cold. heck... make it a giant vacuum flask!

 

[Numenorean]

You could never have those in an HOA.