The other day, a colleague and I made our way to a site on the outskirts of the city to meet with ‘container gurus’ Bryan McCrea  and Channing McCorriston to have a peek at a “container home” demo unit.   The two (along with Evan Willoughby, who was not present) are the founders of 3twenty Solutions – a company looking to produce affordable dwellings based on containers, right here in Saskatoon.

Their award-winning business concept of recycling and renovating shipping containers for purposes such as office space, sleeping quarters, and housing units has been raising eyebrows and taking heed from a number of industries and property seekers.

The two were kind enough to give us the grand tour of a renovated container – and let me say, I foresee myself wanting one…or three!

Here’s a look at some of the prep work conducted to make these units livable…

And here’s a look at end product…who knew a shipping container could look this sexy!

The great thing about them – they come standard sizes, which means the dimensions are the same throughout the container.  No need for endless measuring, you know exactly what you are getting.  Containers are also made of Corten (the strongest steel out there), and have the ability to withstand just about any weather condition.

While this concept might seem revolutionary to North Americans, the truth is that containers have been re-purposed in other parts of the world for quite some time.  Containers have been found & reused in parts of China, Australia, and Western Europe – but the trend is just now starting to catch on domestically.  For example, check out this video of a container office being constructed in Providence, Rhode Island:

In fact, even some of Google’s Data Centers reside in a complex made of shipping containers.  But, thanks to local companies like 3twenty Solutions, these units are on their way to becoming one of the hottest trends in urban living – and perhaps one of the next ‘styles’ of real estate.

With over 700,000 idle containers in North America alone, this recycling initiative couldn’t be  a greener one.  Now the real question is, how would you market this type of home to buyers?