The most recent design work I've done. Shown here is the single sloped roof over a wood truss style frame to support the roof and provide an "attic" space between the roof and the container, and a deck/patio area made from wood pallets set on block. The container is also sitting on block.
Rain Harvesting is an ancient and incredibly practical approach to supplying safe fresh water with relative convenience and affordability. Some research I've done on the subject suggests the area of Pennsylvania the prototype is being built in gets approximately 45 inches of rain per year (with it raining 155 days out of the year). This makes it quite suitable for a rain harvesting/catchment system. Assuming this is their only source for water, two people and a dog would need to harvest somewhere between 4-500 gallons of water per month. This includes all washing including clothes, drinking water, cooking and showers. This also assumes the toilet to be waterless and the shower to be "low-flow". Based on these parameters and using a calculation I found for converting inches of rain to gallons and based on the square footage of this model's roof (288 sq./ft.) suggests as much as 600 gallons of water per month could be harvested in this climate region, more than enough to support the inhabitants of the Ark.
Here I've removed the roof and siding to reveal the wood frame and the two 275 gallon palletized poly-tanks this design would use to store potable water. The gutter is standard, and the down pipe is 2 inches in diameter...
...The rain water flows down the gutter and spout to the orange 5 gallon bucket, the top half of which is filled with gravel like stones, the bottom half a finer sand aggregate. This is the first stage of filtration and helps to keep "itsy-bitsy spiders" and other large debris from getting any further into the water system. I later added a second 5 gallon bucket to this design concept which is filled with activated carbon before the water is drained into the blue 55 gallon drum. From there it would be pumped by hand up through hose to the "attic" where it would enter the reverse osmosis filtration system (not pictured) and finally the large 275 gallon tanks.
Seen here is a built in propane space heater. Although, currently propane is not going to be a source for heat in the prototype.
The wood stove is based on a small portable steel stove used in ice fishing cabins. The floor would be composed of recycled glass aggregate at the front and sustainably harvested cork for the remaining area. A 12 volt microwave, two-burner propane stove top and a 12 volt mini-fridge. (Update: The fridge is officially out as its front opening door allows all the cold air to spill out wasting exorbitant amounts of energy to maintain temperature, instead we will build a custom refrigeration unit that is top loaded and heavily insulated.)
The bed is a scale representation of a "Double" sized mattress. I also designed the bench seat towards the rear to conform to restaurant standards for booth style seating.
This study was centered around the "Matroshka Compact Living Concept" inspired modular interior. I think it represents most closely what I'd like to achieve with the Ark prototype. We will see...
Study 05 is simply five 20' containers welded together with an A-Frame roof set inside the footprint of a scale model of my Grandmother's concrete block basement foundation. I really like the idea of retrofitting containers to existing foundations that have outlived their original building. Especially old barns...
Study 02 was fun to make. Really it was about three things, a flat-pack wooden chair I saw on the web somewhere that I wanted to play around with; a modular kitchen and living space; and cool red movie theater style seats!
There is a shipping container house I've seen where the builder used these interesting looking steel feet that fit to the corners of the container. Here I considered something slightly more complicated where the feet would be part of a steel frame which the container could be then bolted to.
The partially completed interior is depicted here with two folding chairs set at a folding table which is actually the full sized bed that is vertically secured (Murphy bed style) into the larger cabinetry. This is my first attempt at designing modular cabinetry and compact built-in furniture, etc.
...And here the bed is lowered into place, the folding chairs tucked away and some extra shelves and stowage accessible when the Murphy bed/table is in this "mode".
This interior design study really helped me get a feel for what was possible inside the 160 sq/ft space. Although the wood stove as it looks here would not be practical. I quickly learned that I was going to need to cut out a lot of fat from this design if it was ever going to work in the real world.
The "Guybox" is an early model I designed utilizing a unique "V" shaped roof which is intended to help with heat convection. Also pictured here are two 175 Watt PV panels and a solar water heater.
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