A competition-winning container house design

Luan Fontes, a Brazilian student at the University of Porto, Portugal, has won the national competition Healthy Home, Healthy City with a modular project made of containers. The competition was organized by the Council for Architecture and Urban Planning of Rio Grande do Sul, CAU/RS, in partnership with UN-Habitat and Minimum, to seek the best architectural and urban solutions for innovation or improvement of different scales and living spaces in urban areas, in order to improve the quality of urban life in the new reality imposed on society by the pandemic

The project is located on Frades Island, north of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The project was considered for 6 months and expected to be executed in 4 months. It is proposed to insert 42 20-foot insulated containers, creating a total of 620 square meters of space, to meet two local needs: a dance school, which previously operated in a space near the church; and three emergency social housing units, which will serve as temporary shelter for residents, always taking into account the need for fast and affordable construction, with materials that are easy to insert on site.

Its structural system is 85% lighter than regular brickwork and takes half the time to complete compared to other ordinary buildings. These homes will not only provide temporary housing for three local families, but will also serve as shelter for other families in the future.