DIEMEN STUDENT HOUSING: A SHIPPING CONTAINER HOUSING EXAMPLE DISCUSSED BY LORD NEIL B. GIBSON

Near immediate, long lasting solutions to issues concerning shelters for the homeless have been driving passions for Lord Neil Benjamin Gibson and SFBBL AG, working diligently through the SEED Foundation. ISBU structures, commonly known as shipping containers, have become one of those solutions.

Discarded containers have been used by the United States military since the 1960s as fully functioning, secure and mobile hospitals. Today, they’ve become topics of intrigue and fashion statements, turning ISBU homes into excellent cost efficient shelters for the homeless and affordable housing options for the middle class, including students.

The town of Diemen borders Amsterdam to the East and like it’s neighbor, it also suffers from a severe lack in student accommodations. In response, a 250 student home building, 5 storeys, laid out as a square with a garden in the center was created. Square building designs functioned ideally when using shipping containers, as they provide additional structural integrity. All units are heated with natural gas, from a central installation located in one of the ground floor units. Concrete walkways were added as well.

December 2007 the project was initiated with the foundation and further commissioned in April 2008. Upon arrival, it took only 12 weeks to stack 250 units, an average of 4 to 5 units per day (actual stacking speed approximately 20 units a day).

The Diemen student housing project clearly made use of shipping containers in a creative and highly effective manner, creating a comparatively less expensive solution to meeting the housing needs of students.

ISBUs remain among the strongest stationary structures in the world, composed of corten steel, able to withstand extensive environmental attacks such as hurricanes, tornados, typhoons and even earthquakes, making them uniquely durable, and capable of carrying 30 tons of cargo. The average shipping containers are 40 feet in length by 8 feet wide and 9.5 feet high.

As demonstrated by the Diemen student housing project, the amount of expense and completion time related to installing and constructing ISBU homes are significantly less than more traditional housing.