Photography by Matt Marcinkowski
This past spring, Zack and Brie Smithey started construction on a 3,000-square-foot home made of eight bright-red steel shipping containers arranged four across and double-stacked (Zack Smithey calls them “adult Legos”). On July 5, the St. Charles City Council voted to allow container homes to be used as infill housing, but the issue remains controversial.
Using retired shipping containers as a building material is both eco-friendly and economical. Smithey’s total investment of $125,000 (one-third the cost of traditional construction) covered the land, the containers, and enough taupe paint to, with any luck, silence the naysayers.
Using old containers as building blocks could provide a low-cost housing option for cities such as St. Louis. The Smitheys want to lead that charge, acetylene torches in hand.
