A client asked us to design his custom made container home in Dakar, Senegal. The home consist of eight 40 foot shipping containers and one 20 foot shipping container as swimming pool. A 20.000 Liter cistern collects rainwater below the raised deck.
Minimal Impact on site
The containers are prefabricated. This means that the containers have windows before they arrive on site. Even more, all main components, including the bathrooms, kitchen and fittings are pre-installed. Foundation blocks are poured on site, that will support steel columns. This way the house will have a minimum footprint and the containers disturb only a minimum area of the site. After that, the containers move to the final location. The roof can now be placed.
After the seven seas
To reduce the impact on the environment, the containers will be second hand containers, that have already had a life on the seven oceans behind them.
Future changes of the use
Later we can add more container units, or rearrange them for a different type of use. Now the idea is that there is an ‘outdoor living space’ between the four containers, that connects to all indoor living spaces. This way the client can invite guests and spend great times having a barbecue (braai) and lie by the swimming pool. Later it will be possible to split up the big house , and turn it into autonomous self-contained units. Like that the client can rent out the separate units to different families that are on holiday, whilst still keeping the central swimming pool area.
