Rethink the purpose - Buildings to help Haiti

Consistently "giving back" and creatively thinking "outside the box" are two of our greatest passions - on that note, we recently ran across the following article and just had to share it with all of you as well ...


Shipping Containers to Help Haiti?

Designers from Clemson University started the SEED project to reuse excess shipping containers found around the world.  They take these cargo containers, designed to withstand extreme weather at sea and made of steel, and rethink their purpose.  Why not use the 304 square feet of floor space in these things as housing?  What was once an obsolete hunk of metal is now an extremely solid, weatherproof, insect-resistant, fire proof home.

But wait, you’re thinking, those things are UGLY!  True, in their original form they certainly are, but designers at SEED have set their minds to transforming these giant hunks of metal into light, livable spaces arranged like apartment buildings.


The men and women working at Clemson University have wasted no time in finding practical applications.  They have proposed these SEED containers as a cost effective and sustainable strategy for rebuilding Haiti.  Their design images seem almost surrealist, but it’s just crazy enough that it just might work.

In light of the Haiti earthquake there are tons of ways you can be green and help out.  Donate your cell phones, clothes, and money.  But don’t stop there, educate yourself about the issues in Haiti, why the earthquake was so disastrous, and what the US has done to cause the abject poverty we’re seeing in photographs.  To rebuild Haiti sustainably we have to know what caused the destruction in the first place – only a part of it was the earthquake.

Bosgraaf Companies - recognized leading builder of the greenest neighborhoods, homes and dreams within and beyond West Michigan ... find out more at http://bosgraaf.com ...