The Box House

The main villa was conceptualised on the traditional Sri Lankan house, albeit the non-conventional construction method, the living spaces are built surrounding a central courtyard, which cools and ventilates, and truly invites the outdoors in. Constructed almost entirely by repurposing and retrofitting discarded shipping containers, the footprint was kept minimal by fitting the entire brief into just 2560sqft of internal space. The 2080sqft villa comprises 5 Bedrooms and 5 bathrooms entirely housed within 5 containers, surrounding a central courtyard and living area; while the staff and services are housed in a separate 1.5 forty-foot container unit, contributing the remaining 480sqft to the project. The very limited use of cement (one of the biggest contributors of Carbon dioxide to climate change) meant near zero emissions. Further, the villa reuses approximately 17,500kg of steel, saving time and using less than 10% of new resources. At the end of its lifespan, the steel can be recycled. Landscape design was kept sustainable with local and tropical plants that thrive in the area’s heat and humidity. Only the area immediately surrounding the villa was landscaped, with over 60% of the property untouched, resulting in little to no expensive maintenance. The project was unable to benefit from solar power to produce electricity without reducing the tree cover, so instead chose to use it to minimize heat gain using the shade from the satinwood trees. However, it does produce solar powered hot water, maximizes natural daylight and ventilation, and conserves up to 20% water with efficient fittings.