Shipping container-based design is becoming a whole new category of architecture as the "tiny homes" movement gains popularity around the world, and the 2017 Archicad Student Awards proves there is no end to what you can do.
Winner Jacques Steyn, from the University of Free State, designed an urban recycling hub out of shipping containers.
"The design aims to make a space in the city (Hoffman Square) where people can drop off their waste, but also become part of its recycling," Steyn says of the project.
Runner-up Teboho Bokako used not just whole containers, but even recycled panels from old containers to create a "container church" that looks a whole lot more expensive than it is.
Third place was shared by Busisiwe Mgewenya from Tshwane University of Technology for a floating life buoy –– a lookout point in Qatar -- and Gareth van Loggerenberg from Durban University of Technology for his residential container house.
in South Africa, where widespread poverty still means that the majority of the population are excluded from the housing market, the containers could be a useful alternative to the standard low-income home. Hopefully we'll see more of them this year.