Boxpert Blog

Repurposed shipping containers have been used for storage and temporary or permanent work/living spaces since the 1930s. They continue to be popular with individuals and organizations that require a safe place for people and/or valuables during a project, a move, or an expansion.

How does your iPhone reach you safely having traveled halfway around the world from its suspected varied points of manufacturing?  

Hospital clinics, offices, temporary sleeping quarters, homes, box stores- what do all of these have in common?  Each can be built within the confines of a standard ISO shipping container.

I've recently worked with several businesses in the Austin and San Antonio who are using storage containers to make doing business easier.  There are a lot of different ways that storage containers can be used in different creative ways to make conducting business easier and more efficient, here are just a few them

1. Storage Shed       

Why go through the hassle of assembling a newly manufactured set of parts when you can have a sustainable, prefabricated container shipped right to your backyard? And when you’re ready to move or you don’t need it anymore, it gets picked up in one piece and in a single afternoon—not too many traditional sheds can boast the same.

Troublemaker Studios, located at the site of the old airport in Austin, TX, contacted Falcon Containers in hopes of helping them create their set for the up-in-coming film "Predators."  In order to create the horrific environment called the "Predator Hunting Camp set," they needed structures to block out sunlight and create their own hellish world.  To create the structures, they decided to use shipping containers.  They rented out 31 shipping containers from Falcon, 19 40' containers and 12 20' containers.  They used the containers as the main structure of the set throughout the filming of the movie, and built fake rock on the inside part of the containers to portray the jungle. 

The following is part three in a three-part series on sustainability by Falcon Boxpert and architectural interior designer Sarah Ellis.

So far, we've covered four big reasons that shipping containers are excellent sustainable building materials: their ability to be upcycled, their modularity, their compactness and their structural integrity. In this final installment in our blog series on sustainability, we will address two additional "green" aspects of shipping container architecture that help prove their viability as part of a sustainably-designed future.

The following is part two in a three-part series on sustainability by Falcon Boxpert and architectural interior designer Sarah Ellis. 

Last week I discussed two qualities of shipping containers that make them great sustainable building options--their upcycled nature and their inherent modularity. Today, here are two more reasons container buidings are a great choice in the pursuit of a greener future.

The following is part one in a three-part blog series on sustainability by Falcon Boxpert and architectural interior designer Sarah Ellis.

With concerns about enviornmental issues like global warming and trash buildup increasing every day, the topic of sustainability has received unprecedented public attention. Businesses (at least, those that are shrewd and responsible) have picked up on this phenomenon, and have begun vigorously marketing their more sustainable qualities and attempting to offer products and services that aid the modern consumer in leading the "green" lifestyle. Falcon is no exception to this, with the container construction we engage in consistenly being heralded as a creative, sustainable alternative to typical building techniques. But, what exactly does it mean when something is "sustainable," and how do our shipping containers abide by that definition?

It's been a busy month here at our Area 51 Falcon headquarters, and with construction on the new Falcon Nest almost completed we've gotten quite a bit of attention from the press and a curious public! Our "big break" came in mid-May, when Falcon Containers was featured on front page of the print edition of the esteemed Austin Business Journal. ABJ Reporter Cody Lyon paid a visit to Area 51 for a tour of the compound and an interview with CEO Stephen Shang, and the resulting article really stirred up some attention.