Shipping Container Dorms for College Students

Shipping containers are being used to build an energy-efficient, low-cost apartment building for college students in Washington D.C. These containers came from the Port of Baltimore.

The architect, who drew up the building plans, says there's a growing number of extra containers in port cities around the U.S. Travis Price, Architect and Designer of the Sea Shipping Container Project, said: "We have 700,000 sea containers sitting empty and fallow in America and the idea of repurposing them when they make beautiful, elegant buildings. Remember, people all over in big cities love glass, steel buildings, they'll pay a fortune. Here, we've actually made something that is more affordable by far, we've repurposed the sea containers and we're in-filling the urban areas with human, dense housing."

Neighbors, apparently, have mixed reviews of the project. Price continued: "Some people might say it's fantastic, some might say it's an eye sore, I always feel that the eye of the beholder is what makes something good or bad, but once they understand it and touch it and feel it, it will get better. In general it's been very positive. The thing is, the questions are not so much I don't like it, it's how do I get one?"

Construction should be done in a few weeks with Catholic University students expected to move in before school starts in September.