Where did the SMALLisSMART (container based) HOUSE start?
After Geoffrey Fulton completed his architectural studies, he did what most young Australian architectural graduates do, he decided to do the "grand tour" of Europe getting up and close to the old classic buildings of the world!
Before leaving Australia, he ordered and paid for a new Mercedes Benz sedan to be picked up at the factory in Sindelfingen, Germany once he arrived in Europe. He also booked a seat on the Indiaman, a bus that travels from Madras in India to London. To get to Madras, he travelled by ship from Perth to Colombo, Sri Lanka, then by local ferry to the Indian mainland, then by a slow, slow, very very slow train to Madras where he met up with 42 people from around the world, all gathered together prior to starting an amazing 3 month bus journey across the Middle East to Europe.
During those event filled 3 months, he had time to work out how he was going to travel around Europe as economically as possible, hopefully without having to take on jobs along the way.
The logical answer was to provide his own accommodation at no cost! He designed a collapsable caravan to be fitted to the pack rack of his new Mercedes Benz.
By coincidence, a detour in the road in Germany saw the bus pull up outside the Mercedes factory where Geoffrey said good bye to all his travel friends and walked in to reception, still in his shorts and with his luggage from the trip, to pick up his new car.
He had been invited to visit a German friend of a friend in Australia, and it was while staying in Munster the engineer friend helped him build the roof top caravan for his car. At the same time he built a rack on the front and back of the car to which he strapped a minimotorcycle and a Bultaco off-road bike. He took the rear seat out and replaced it with a steel trunk to carry his cameras and paper work and maps.
Lunch at the kerb in Hamburg!
It was while staying in Munster that Geoffrey first met Carla Salomon Kerkering who showed him around her architectural school. 32 Years later, they met again and she joined him as his partner in Australia. She heads the interior architecture side of the design practice.
A month after completing the construction of the caravan, Geoffrey was on the road on the grand tour. He first headed north to Scandinavia and Russia, then south as far as Africa and to cross the Sahara. Every night was spent sleeping on top of the car in a small "house" 10 feet by 6 feet (3m X 1.8m), that's only 60 square feet (5.4sq.m.) in area! He was able to take a shower using only a pint of hot water. He cooked all his meals either upstairs in the house during poor weather or outside on a table mounted on the rear pack rack.
"Imagine! I slept on top of the car for 5 months outside the front doors of John Lewis' Department Store in Oxford St. in London, and 3 months on the Champs Elysise in Paris. I often parked at ports at night because there was always a fresh water supply. In Helsinki, I woke in the morning to find myself in the middle of the city market. Never mind, the locals showered me with fresh produce for breakfast!
I could go to bed anywhere I could park the car. The London Daily Express newspaper had me on their front page in long johns going to bed outside the front doors of Claridges Hotel. I tried to take a lady friend that I had traveled across Asia with to dinner at the hotel next night but I wasn't welcome! I always thought any sort of publicity was good publicity!! Obviously not for Claridges."
Because such an outfit had never been seen before, local journalists were always wanting to write about Fulton's travels and experiences for their local paper. He came to the party as long as the newspaper paid for the petrol to the next city he was to visit. Then manufacturers seeing the stories and photoes in the newspapers started offering him free products for the newspaper exposure they could get.
He was given 3 motorcycles, an inflatable boat, a fibreglass speedboat "Goldfinger" and 4o horse power outboard motor, the first portable TV set, all his film from Kodak, a movie camera and film from Bell and Howell, Tupperware for storing everything on-board the car, and best of all, free servicing of his car every time he traveled through Germany. He was given a pass to the experimental department at Mercedes Benz. It was here that Mr Uhlenhaut (chief of Mercedes Benz Racing) serviced the car and fitted new accessories and modifications so the they could be tested under load. The car with the "caravan" or tiny house, two motorcycles, a speed boat and all his living needs in it had the car loaded beyond factory specifiation, so it was ideal for testing. In three and a half years, the only problem was that the tyres blew out because of the high road temperatures while crossing the Sahara between Algeria and Tunisia. He and a hitch-hiking friend had to abandon the car, travel to the nearest town on one of the motor cycles to get a new set of tyres before continuing the journey driving only during the cool hours of the night.
Geoffrey's journey ended after he was caught at the Russian Finnish border by the Russian customs with a priceless collection of art that he had purchased in Russia. They confiscated the car, "invited" him to stay a few nights, then allowed him and his hitch-hiker friend to leave on one of the motor cycles. (That's a fascinating story in itself!)
It was then a case of head back to Australia to start a working life!
Since those days, he has always thought about the possibility of living in very small spaces.
So became the SMALLisSMART HOUSE!
©SMALLisSMART HOUSE
This shipping container based house has been produced to show that the recycling of shipping containers can provide comfortable to luxury very economical living, and to show that we can down-size from McMansions! As a result of the interest in this project,
SMALLisSMART HOUSES will be for sale in various stages of completion:
Fully constructed and furnished ready to move in.
Buy the container with all steel modifications completed and a manual and set of drawings and specifications, and a pack of materials similar to what you get when you buy a piece of IKEA furniture. It’s for the owner builder.
You purchase a detailed manual, set of drawings and specification for the person who wants to start from scratch to build their SMALLisSMART HOUSE. The manual will provide a material and cutting list down to the number of nails and screws and step by step instructions for building the SMALLisSMART HOUSE. It may include a weekly tele-conference with us and other owner builders.
We will negotiate an agreement to franchise the sale of plans for SMALLisSMART HOUSE and/or part or fully constructed SMALLisSMART HOUSES locally and internationally.
External and internal finishes can be varied. The display model has the most up-market Alucobond finish on one side. The other side, for minimal cost, has just been painted with a special thermal insulating paint (previously developed for the space shuttle).
The house can be solar powered, (skylights have been left out of the display model because of road transport restrictions.) Waste grey and black water can be treated by a worm farm with the resulting effluent fertilizer used to feed the vegetables on the Edible Wall.
The Edible Wall will provide a family’s vegetables year round, with the unique and patented Autopot hydroponic system feeding the plants only according to the plants needs. They will grow on racks fitted to the wall that is exposed to the sun (ideally north facing.)
It’s ECO FRIENDLY!
There is minimal ground disturbance
It surpasses 5 Star Energy Rating.
It’s carbon footprint is very low!
It’s a great example of sustainable building practices.
The house uses recycled material and is recyclable!
*There is no shortage of shipping containers. Currently there are enough of them to build a wall around the world at the Equator 4 containers high.
ARCHITECTS FULTON + SALOMON have created a number of container house models:
First pack.
This model is designed primarily for the first home buyer.You have to be a First Home Buyer entitled to the government grants. Building this house yourself will cost you between $30,000 and $40,000. The floor plan is the same as the display model but the fit-out is built by the owner from material supplied by a local building supply company and IKEA if there is one in your location. Otherwise the built-in fittings, Kitchen, cupboards etc. will need to be supplied either completed or in flat pack for you to assemble. These make variables in the cost of the house for owner builders.
The SMALLisSMART HOUSE is ideal for permanent and bushfire relief accommodation. It can be extended to any size while the owners stay in it.
Charity pack.
This model provides maximum accommodation for homeless children or adults. We have a number of models that can sleep 8 to 12 residents.
Owner builder pack.
Anyone who can read the instructions provided by IKEA, will be able to build this SMALLisSMART HOUSE. The architects will provide a very detailed manual and negotiations are taking place so that a buyer will take delivery of the container with all the steel modifications completed. Open the container doors and manual, and you are on your way to building your SMALLisSMART HOUSE for between $30,000 and $40,000.
Max pack.
This exhibited Max Pack SMALLisSMART HOUSE has all the luxury for a single person or couple. There are numerous variations of the plans and accommodation available including the 2 Storey Compact.
This exhibition model is Top-of-the-Range! It has a fully equipped kitchen with all the "bells and whistles" fold-down bed, washing machine etc. The superb finish on all the built-in fittings is 2-pack, high gloss and satin. It is equipped with a heat recovery system. This model is shown on this website. It is expected to sell for just under $100,000.
We plan to bring out a basic version of this model for around $75,000.
Custom pack.
Anyone interested in a special architect designed container based house can engage ARCHITECTS FULTON + SALOMON to take a brief then design a custom home. It can have any number of rooms, bathrooms, be multi level up to 11 storeys, be fire resistant and hurricane safe. There are major cost savings when compared to conventional construction.
Although you might not think so, but working with containers has quite some difficulties and traps, starting from the economical purchase of the right containers! We believe that we have solved all the problems!
The architects already have a large 2 storey residence and art centre designed and constructed at Daylesford, Victoria, Australia, based on 12 shipping containers.
On the drawing board is a 60 square(600 sq.m.) hurricane safe residence and 6 B + B units to be built at Orlando, Florida using 29 shipping containers.
We also have a new house outside Melbourne to be constructed from 11 containers.
Numerous projects are being developed using 2 to 7 containers and up to 3 storeys in height.
The benefits are very considerable cost savings and protection from hurricanes and wild fires. (You can also bury them!)
Other uses for the SMALLisSMART HOUSE are:
The SMALLisSMART HOUSE has now been by invitation at no cost to us at two major design and building expos, DesignEX 2009 and the Building and Home Improvement Expo.The response has been amazing and so positive. We thought that we had created something very special... it was so encouraging and satisfying that so many agreed!
If you would like to see some plans, please email us with the following:
Name, postal address, telephone number, email address, and if you have a specific need, tell us about it and we will tailor our response accordingly.
If you have a property that you would like to consider putting a SMALLisSMART HOUSE on, give us the address so we can look at it on Google and give our opinion.
If you would like something designed for you, we have to make a charge for some of the time involved in taking a brief from you and designing the building for you. We charge the same fee as Archicentre, the offshoot of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. Through Archicentre, for around $1500, you provide a brief and an architect will give you the basic design for your custom designed house. Of course there are further fees for working drawings and specifications, and town planning application if it is required. We do the same! The fees are dependent on the complexity of the job to be done.
Following are a few different models of the SMALLisSMART HOUSE.
The Prototype SMALLisSMART HOUSE
images will come soon! (don't wait now though.)
A Two Bedroom SMALLisSMART HOUSE
The garage is for a very small electric village car. As an alternative the space can become a third bedroom or a study for those happy with using the car pool provided by the Leopold Village.
Another Two Bedroom SMALLisSMART HOUSE
If you are interested in marketing the SMALLisSMART HOUSE, or you are interested in using it in one of your commercial developments, we will be happy to negotiate an arrangement where we can both benefit.
The amazing ©SMALLisSMART HOUSE created by:
EURO 1 ENTERPRISES PTY LTD
trading as:
ARCHITECTS FULTON + SALOMON
ARCHITECTS, INTERIOR DESIGNERS, YACHT DESIGNERS, PROJECT MANAGERS.
5 Loch Lomond Crescent, The Sands, Torquay, Vic. 3228, Australia
Telephone: +61(03) 52619422 Fax: +61 (03) 52 619 423 Mobile: 0438 619424
Email: thearchitect@internode.on.net