Box House

I'm very interested in the following creative attempt at development taking place at the moment in my suburb. It looks like a prefab two story house that has been placed on the block.

As the land is quite expensive and there isn't a great margin on some of the more traditional upmarket housing builds I'm very curious as to how this attempt will save time or make more money. I will provide some numbers when I'm able to track them down.
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Hey, I drove past this on the weekend as I was investigating suburbs near the airport. I couldn't figure out what it was but sure is interesting.

There is something worrying me about shipping container houses and this one you posted - it's the flat roof. It goes against nature to have a flat roof. We lived in one for years and it never felt right.
 
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Hey, I drove past this on the weekend as I was investigating suburbs near the airport. I couldn't figure out what it was but sure is interesting.

There is something worrying me about shipping container houses and this one you posted - it's the flat roof. It goes against nature to have a flat roof. We lived in one for years and it never felt right.
I've lived in a few apartment buildings that had a flat roof, one on the Gold Coast had drainage issues due to poor thinking about how to deal with rain.

Also I have some experience with Khrushchev buildings in East Europe that had serious problems, you don't want to be living on the top floor due to the snow collecting and not melting.

Yes we are near the airport Amadio, as the crow flies and not as the Brisbane traffic sometimes allows around peak hour though! :)
 
Good grief. Bet a lot of vodka is downed in those buildings. How depressing.
Yes! Vodka and beer, but it's not just the buildings but life in general I think.

Actually the buildings are ugly on the outside but often on the inside the apartments are wonderfully renovated in the nicer suburbs and there is plenty of green space around them where the local kids all gather and play. One thing the communists didn't plan for is car parking, in an era where few owned a car it wasn't an issue but now it's every person for themselves when you are trying to find a park or fight your way out onto the street.
 
Reminds me of visiting Sofia Bulgaria

A couple of them though just reminded of american apartment buildings Ive seen on tv shows.
 
My God that's ugly. Affordable housing, here we come.
Would love to know how much it cost. Probably quite cheap, considering they've cut so many corners. It'd only need bigger windows and patio to improve its look. With windows that small and high off the floor, I'd say they've been designed for multiple units to be built close together. I've got no issues with flat roofs, as long as there's a bit of architectural variation elsewhere to compensate. I think a lot of people go the flat roofs because of some council regulations to keep the highest point of a building below 8.5m. A flat roof could then allow 3 levels rather than 2.



Here's a pic of cavity brick flats my parents built in 1972.

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Low maintenance and still as solid as a rock....and flat roof....never any leakage problems with them in 38 years.




BTW, on the topic of innovative and compact, what more could complement a box house than a circular kitchen. :) Originally designed in the 70s specifically for small apartments....supposed to be a complete kitchen. making a bit of a comeback with the interest in smaller apartments.

Personally, I think its round shape might use more space than thought.

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Yes I drove past it - its near one of the develop for profit sites right - northside?? How did that get past council???
 
Yes I drove past it - its near one of the develop for profit sites right - northside?? How did that get past council???


Yes, how is that even allowed?

Brisbane would receive some of the heaviest rain in the land, bugger the flat roof. No eves. No shade.

I reckon eveless houses should be banned. Also black roofs excepting the snowy mountains and Tassie. But I suppose you can stuff bigger eveless houses onto ever smaller blocks? Not something one has to worry about out here.


See ya's.
 
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