Another step in that direction is this design of four containers by architect Christopher Robertson in Houston Texas.

While the green building features of any particular shipping container house may vary, the sustainable virtues come from employing unused containers that have served their original life purpose.

Robertson’s design uses Supertherm insulation – a space age technology that is Cradle to Cradle certified. The theme is carried throughout the house by low VOC paints, an efficient HVAC system, passive lighting and cooling, and a minimum of construction waste once the house was completed – just 12 contractor bag of trash. Read post in Inhabitat.

As the shell was assembled in 48 hours, Aperture House is intended to show off prefabrication as affordable style, and to diminish the stigma of prefab houses.

To keep down costs Vettern Denk uses concrete floors (area rugs ad comfort), sliding glass doors rather than floor-to-ceiling windows, and MDF in the walls, doors and cabinets.

As a production model the aim is to get the pricing down under $200,000, Scommengna wants to mass produce the design for delivery to the suburbs. Read post in Dwell.

Apparently the Hudson River Park Trust can see the trend as well. They’ve recently selected LOT-EK’s shipping container design to renovate Pier 57, near Chelsea. Now our stores will be housed in shipping containers too!

Chelsea is already a magnet for modern green architecture, and the plan by LOT-EK to use repurposed shipping containers for the waterfront attraction fits the mold.

The proposed structure includes 170,000 square feet of work spaces for local artisans, a public market, and an additional 90,000 square foot “Underwater Discovery Center.” Read post in Inhabitat.

Designed for the vacationer seeking a retreat house with a smaller footprint, this environmentally conscious cabin with telescope and transparent viewing dome might be just the thing to bring you back to earth (ironically, while looking at the heavens).

Similar ideas in Taking Form In Forrest, Come Fly With Me, and Lost River Cabin.

The simple but modern vacation house may turn out to be a fairly popular niche for architects losing ground to the housing crisis, and while still early these are already promising designs geared for the economically minded vacationer. Read post in Inhabitat.

Here’s another with a catchy name. The WelcomeHome is three shipping containers combined into 800 square feet of living space, and at just $12,000 plus shipping costs the house is within the budget of many home buyers.

One thing that is especially attractive with a shipping container house like The WelcomeHome is that they can easily be adapted to urban infill or set down smack in the middle of your 10 acre parcel. Houses that can adapt to a wide range of needs are likely to be in great demand, and shipping containers fit perfectly with that future need.

The WelcomeHome also meets future energy goals as it is designed to work off-grid utilizing wind, solar, and passive air circulation. A green roof ads to its sustainability, not to mention soften the somewhat industrial feel of living in a shipping container. Read post in GLiving.

House Arc, which will make its debut in Hawaii is a tubular steel house that sits on concrete piers or a wood deck.

At the estimated cost of $100,000 for 800 square feet we’re not talking about high-end housing, and the tube effect can create some living difficulties, but for others they may immediately fall in love.

Bellomo has designed the house to be off-grid using a photovoltaic film that powers interior lights and appliances. Also, as a modular house House Arc is designed to be lightweight to make transportation costs more affordable. Read post in Inhabitat.

The Zufferey House by Nunatak Sari Architectes tackles both these supposed housing norms.

Add to the camouflage exterior cladding, planned use of passive heating and cooling, garden space, and a concrete floor that helps heat the entire structure and you get a very unique green prefab that fits its surroundings and bucks conventional thinking about what prefab housing can look like. Read post in Inhabitat.

The sustainable structure also uses local materials and is heated by – what else, the sun!

Not only is the house primarily heated by the sun, owner and architect Max Pritchard installed a thermal system for hot water, and a rainwater collection system provides secondary water usage where appropriate.

Bridge House also has a photovoltaic system that provides power, and waste water gets pumped 100 meters away from the creek where it is treated and sent underground.

And proving that technologically advanced green houses don’t have to break the bank, Pritchard’s budget for Bridge House was the equivalent of $175,000. Read post in Inhabitat.

Now more is happening above the LA skyscrapers – this time Marmol Radziner has introduced their modern prefab house called Hollywood Hybrid, a 2,576 square foot sustainable house with a minimal carbon footprint.

Here is what we learn from Inhabitat:

Called a “hybrid” because the house combines prefab with site-built construction, the ground floor of the home includes two large rooms that are built into the foundation of the house. Besides that, the house is entirely comprised of prefabricated modules on the upper two stories. The modules came fully finished with plumbing, electrical, and built-in casework and the kitchen module is complete with appliances already hardwired. Eight weeks from now, the homeowners should be able to move in and unpack their boxes in their new 3-bedroom 3.5 bath home.

The last time we heard from Marmol was back in March with Rincon 5. More new designs are welcome. Read post in Inhabitat.

We’ve previously highlighted various ways these re-purposed steel boxes are being touted as portable affordable prefab housing in Shipping Out, Ship Shape, Talk About A Revolution, Modular Cities, Venezia, and Contained Excitement.

Now a design build firm from California called IC Green is joining in.

IC Green’s containers are similarly transported by truck to the site and craned (or forked) into place. But all of their homes come fitted with green roofs to improve sound insulation, reduce heating and cooling needs, and cutback storm water runoff.

The homes from IC Green also come fitted with a radiant floor system, use FSC certified wood, and VOC free paint. As an option, geo thermal and solar systems can be integrated for domestic warm water and electricity.

As we’ve mentioned before, if modified correctly the end-use product you live in will only faintly resemble the common unmodified shipping container. Read post in Inhabitat.