Shipping containers or mud? There are options

Should shipping containers be used to create livable spaces in Cape Girardeau?

That's a question currently before the city council. I was pleased to see that the council members voted to extend the city's moratorium on such projects rather than ban them outright. This gives everyone more time to assess shipping containers and their viability as permanent homes.

Interestingly, the city council's weighing of this issue coincides with a wonderfully informative British TV series called "Grand Designs." The program features houses all over Great Britain that are unusual, to say the least, and, at the outset, unbelievable.

For example, one of the houses was made from packed mud. Turns out that construction system has been around for centuries, and houses built from a dense mixture of mud and straw can withstand the elements for ages.

One of the featured houses, in Northern Ireland, was a clever arrangement of shipping containers. As this concept was introduced at the start of this particular TV episode, it appeared the architect-owner involved with the project might not succeed.

There were the usual engineering questions about the structural integrity of shipping containers, which derive much of their strength to withstand enormous loads of weight and pressure from their solid-wall construction. When builders start carving out doors and windows, this structural integrity must, it is assumed, be compromised in some way.

But let me say this about constructing any building in Great Britain. There probably isn't anywhere on Earth more regulated than Great Britain. Even the smallest changes or additions at a construction site must be approved and licensed by the appropriate authorities. It is a tedious and time-consuming process that would put off all but the most determined builders.

All of the questions being raised by our city council were also brought up in the Northern Ireland experiment. Because there were few, if any, models to use as examples of what to do and not to do, the Northern Ireland architect-owner had his hands full, not only with the design and construction of a functional dwelling using shipping containers, but also the labyrinth of regulations and licensing requirements. This fellow would have a lot to add, I think, to the deliberations right here in Cape Girardeau.

I am not advocating for the use of shipping containers as houses all over town. But I think there is much to consider that would be in favor of such a project.

This is not a plan to build a trailer court minus the wheels. Shipping containers, in the imagination of a creative architect, can provide fascinating shapes and uses of space. The result can be, design-wise, striking and artistic. Exteriors can be clad in ways that are visually appealing and which add to the structural strength and insulation properties of the project.

So, now the city has another 90 days to take look at the use of shipping containers in home construction. Many of the concerns that have been raised could be addressed through appropriate construction standards, as housing regulators in Great Britain already have done.

And there is nothing to prevent the council from further delays in making a decision on this novel idea of adding an interesting housing alternative. In other words: take as long as needed to make the right decision.

By the way, there is plenty of gumbo mud in these parts. Some creative architect might want to take a look at the mud-and-straw mixture, known as cob.

That would probably take more than another 90 days.

Joe Sullivan is the retired editor of the Southeast Missourian.