Ape Creative's new hub based in the Philippines. A 100 sqm of up-cycled shipping containers converted into a piece of real estate. Designed to be a home office that can shelter up to four people. It is purposely built and located in the middle of a remote village, tucked in nature.
Design: Benjamin Garcia Saxe Architecture
Location: Sto. Tomas, Batangas. Philippines
Building Tyoe: Private Residence / Home office
Area: 100 sqm
Construction Management and Builder: Container Living PH
Interior Design: Home owner
Build time: 78 days
The Process
The Inspiration
Gabriela Calvo and Marco Peralta dreamed of living in their fantastic property 20 minutes outside of the city of San Jose, Costa Rica; where they could be with their horses and enjoy the natural landscape. They made the very bold choice of exploring with me the possibility of creating a very inexpensive house made out of disregarded shipping containers that allowed them to be dept free and live the life they always dreamed of. It was important for me to provide them with the sunrise, the sunset, the spectacular views, and overall try and create a feeling of comfort and home. A roof between the two containers, made from the scrap pieces of metal taken to make the windows, not only creates an internal sensation of openness but also provides a cross ventilation which is surprisingly sufficient enough to never have to turn the air conditioning on.
The final cost of the house (40,000USD) is lower than the cost of social housing provided for the poor in Costa Rica. Perhaps this project begins to expose the importance of design as a tool to provide beauty and comfort with a very low budget in the 21st century, whilst using
creativity to not only redefine a scrap material such a disused shipping container, but perhaps to even show that there are viable, low cost, passive alternatives of temperature control to adapt to a very intense tropical climate.
Already this proposal has began to spark a great deal of interest and could become one alternative to solve the issue of disposing of disregarded shipping containers in developing countries, as well as begin to solve the large gap which first time buyers encounter when purchasing a home.
- Benjamin Garcia Saxe Architecture
