Dachi Papuahvili’s Micro Shipping Container Home

This conceptual design from Georgian architect Dachi Papuahvili, is an interesting take on tiny houses and how to live in them. The concept home is cross-like in form and is intended to provide a living space for a resident member of a church.

The structure of the micro-home is to be built using shipping containers. Papuashvili’s aim was originally to create a retreat or study for a cleric or layman, however the design seems to have developed beyond that into a full blown home.

The aim is to use reuse, recycle and repurpose as much waste material as possible, starting with the shipping container structure. In Georgia, the usual approach to the construction of monasteries and skits is to build them out of stone – a very labor intensive method. Papuahvili’s skit hopes to provide an environmentally friendly skit with reduced costs for labor and materials.

The exterior renderings show the finished house as being clad with wood, and the end bays of the horizontal section containing large window openings. The peak of the structure contains a small pitched roof to help avoid pooling of water, which isn’t uncommon with flat roofs.

The outside of the house features no less than three decking areas – one close to the ground level, and two others found on the roof of the horizontal container. On the inside, the containers have been retro-fitted and are finish almost entirely in wood.

My favorite area within the home is the small kitchen with the adjacent floor-to-ceiling window, and small space for dining. Religious connotations aside, this is the most interesting and adventurous micro-house concept I’ve come across in a while. Although, I’m not sure how people would get their groceries into the kitchen – a pulley and basket system would be useful. The architect is hoping to complete a prototype by 2015.

For more tiny houses check out the worlds thinnest dwelling, that’s been slotted between two adjacent buildings. Or, this tiny house in Sweden that serves as student accommodation. See all tiny houses.

Via Dezeen
Photos: Dachi Papuashvili