Above: A guest house/garden retreat/playhouse made from a repurposed steel shipping container by Jim Poteet of Poteet Architects in San Antonio, Texas. For more on the project, see our Q&A with Poteet in The Architect Is In: Container as Guest House.

Above: Prefab houses from MEKA (Modular, Environmental, Kinetic, Assembly) made from steel shipping containers, cedar wood paneling, double-glazed argon-filled windows, a bamboo interior, and slate bathroom; four different design options range from $40,000 to $135,000.

Above: The Oakland, California, home of architect Stephen Shoup of Building Lab Inc. has an attached office space for the firm’s staff built from a three-by-six-foot shipping container. Photograph by Aya Brackett.

Above: A modern beach house by way of converted shipping containers on Carolina Beach in North Carolina is available for rent on Airbnb. There are two for rent, each measuring 320 square feet, and equipped with outdoor showers.

Craving more smart design solutions? See our posts:

Embarking on a remodel? See our Remodeling 101 Kitchen Guide and Remodeling 101 Bathroom Guide for everything you need to know.

N.B.: This post is an update; the original story ran on July 3, 2012.