In a continued effort to address homelessness in Phoenix, Arizona, the city has turned to shipping containers, GoodGoodGood reports.
The idea came about from architect Brian Stark. He started by designing buildings out of old shipping containers, which are scattered across the streetscape of Phoenix.
Stark sought out this approach as an environmentally friendly and cost-savings solution.
“We’re not consuming or producing that steel—it already exists‚” he explained, encouraging a mindset shift toward reuse over relentless consumption. “There’s a huge ability to save. And that’s how I think we have to start thinking that way, is using what we have versus just keep on consuming.”
This summer, 280 beds opened up to people experiencing homelessness providing access to cool, safe indoor spaces in summer weather.
Homelessness
Stark expanded this concept as a solution for Phoenix’s unhoused people out of the steel containers. The project was developed for the City of Phoenix with sustainable living company Steel + Spark, and the housing units are called “X-WING” shelters as an ode to the unit’s “X” design.
Each “X-WING” is made up of four containers, topped with solar panels and joined together in an “X” shape that also creates courtyards for its residents when placed beside another unit. Each container has five rooms, with one resident per room. The units are fully air-conditioned, which is crucial for a city that reaches record temperatures every year.
As CBS reports, Jay Spicer, who lives in one of the “X-WING” rooms with his dog, Dino, qualified for the unit by staying sober for eight months and holding a job as a forklift operator.
Though it’s a small space, it’s his own.
“It is my space for now,” Spicer says, “we keep the door shut, it stays nice and cool in here.”