Comments on: Houston Hive to be a Sustainable Village Made from 500 Shipping Containers

By: drwatershed

drwatershed — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:55:08 +0000

Wait a minute. This is not at all sustainable this is a gimmick. Built on 6.5 acres of wooded land! If you can find 6.5 acres of wooded land in Houston it should be preserved. Keeping cars out of 6.5 acres is just silly. such a small space on the outskirts of town will just encourage people to drive there to check it out assuming people actually buy into this concept to make it viable. Speaking of viability who other than a few counter culture folks would actually live there and how do you propose to grow enough vegetables to be “self sutaining in less than 5 acres which will remain after you stack the boxes. Wake up and rethink this. Move it to the largest area of urban blight or abandoned industrial complex that you can find and rehab the soils and then you can talk to me about sustainability.

By: boxpert

boxpert — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 17:09:03 +0000

I love the concept. It looks like there are even solar panels on top of the containers. On the hive itself, where is the power being generated as it is stacked? Also, is there scaffolding built to support the multi-layer containers? Or are the containers being stacked using their inherent strength. Please keep me posted on this project. Fantastic!

By: feng shui at work

feng shui at work — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:25:13 +0000

I saw a similar idea – just not as appealing in design – in Homer, Alaska. Containers were used for restaurant storage, etc. and have built a base for wooden apartment structures above. I thought that was quite interesting. Using containers as seen in this design used for artist space is just fantastic.

By: nelsnelson

nelsnelson — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 17:40:02 +0000

Jessica, you are a journalist, so you should know to be careful with editorializing the projects. When you write “Houston Hive is a Sustainable Village Made from 500 Shipping Containers” you give the impression that it IS a village, when in reality, it IS a PLAN to create a village by 2016. It even extends to your first sentence when you say that it has been created, when you are really looking at a render. Keep it clean!