Casa Oruga

This radical home uses shipping containers in ways that are well beyond what most people imagine for box architecture. Set on a hillside outside of Santiago, Chile, this container home looks like it has grown right out of the mountain.

The home is called Casa Oruga which means “Caterpillar House”. Most of the containers are separated from each other in the design, which creates an undulating texture across the property.

Built for an art collector and his family, the shipping containers provide long, narrow rooms painted in stark white to showcase art pieces. But there is an added benefit. Most of the containers are also used as portals of light and fresh air, removing the need for mechanical ventilation.

One look at the house clearly shows the containers are not all placed in the same plane. Rather, several of them start near the car parking area, then slope down the hill toward the house. The containers then turn to jut out horizontally from the hill. 

Due to the sloped site, the home has a lot of stairs. One container is dedicated to a long staircase, taking you down from street level into the home. Other staircases are used to move between the home’s two levels.

The bulk of the home is placed on the bottom level, anchored by the open living room and kitchen areas. They open up to a large porch with a container pool nearby.

Most of the shipping containers are actually used above on the second level of the home. In this way, the containers, along with the narrow areas between them, become the roof of the first floor. Along with gallery areas, the containers also form the private areas for the resident, such as bedrooms and a bathroom.

In total, the home makes use of five 40 ft containers, six 20 ft containers, and one 40 ft open-top container used for the pool. Second-hand containers were used to reduce cost, provide character, and speed up construction.

The home makes use of other industrial materials and aesthetics, includes weathered steel, poured concrete, expanded steel, and others. Together with the floorplan, they work in harmony to create a cohesive design aesthetic that blends with the Andes mountains. And, they also harmonized into a cohesive, low-maintenance system that ensures light and fresh air reach all corners of the home.