Casa Cúbica, a tiny container home

Cúbica is a company in Costa Rica that specializes in alternative construction based on repurposed shipping containers. They have built housing, commercial and institutional projects from cast-off containers. Cúbica cites lower cost, short delivery times, earthquake resistance and low maintenance as a few of the advantages of using containers.

Cúbica has designed Casa Cúbica, a compact dwelling built from a 20-foot shipping container. A 20-foot container has just 160 ft2 (14.9 m2) of space but Cúbica stretches it out with a short extension at one end. They market it mainly as a vacation home that sleeps up to four. However it would also be suited for full-time living by a single person or a couple, being complete with a kitchenette, full bath and even laundry facilities.

The back wall of the living space is lined with cabinetry containing the kitchenette, closets and a Murphy bed. The extension provides a space for built-in bunk beds, while the bathroom is at the other end. The bathroom has a separate compartment housing the toilet and a stacked washer and dryer. It’s interesting to compare the Casa Cúbica to the Port-a-Bach container cabin, which has a very similar layout but a more casual feel.

Two sets of sliding patio doors open the space to the deck. The shower also has direct access to the outdoors. A ship’s ladder leads up to a second deck on the roof. The glass doors can be protected by a roll-down security shutter, which is otherwise concealed within a box at roof level that also serves as a bench for the roof deck.

Besides providing entertainment space, the roof deck also helps to keep the dwelling cool by blocking sunlight from hitting the metal container directly. Likewise, the corrugated metal siding was chosen to reflect heat away and is installed with an air gap behind it for ventilation.

We hope you enjoyed this article! Have a nice weekend!

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Photographs courtesy of Cúbica.

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