What does the Italian law say and what are the advantages of cargotecture?The container house is a housing solution which consists in the development of an accommodation inside a disused container.The so-called cargotecture, the architecture of the container, has undergone considerable development in the last decade, also producing some solutions with an interesting design.The container house is a market that has undergone moderate growth in the last ten years.Cargotecture is part of that type of architecture that looks to the future in search of simple, economic and eco-sustainable solutions.From prototypes by Richard Buckminster Fuller, passing through mini houses and up to prefabricated houses, housing is increasingly experimenting with alternative ways to the traditional ones, which are able to meet the needs of the individual and the environment.One of the advantageous aspects of the container house is certainly the cost.If you decide to start from the purchase of the simple structure and then carry out a project from scratch, the cost of a used container generally starts from 1000 euros and can reach a few thousand.Of course, the price fluctuation can depend on various factors such as the size, the state of the structure and the components of which it is made up.First of all, there are different sizes for a single container.Usually the length can be six, twelve or twenty-four meters, while the height and width are both around three meters.Furthermore, a container may have been used a variable number of times before being sold, decommissioned or abandoned.It is therefore always necessary to note the wear of the materials and gaskets and the presence of rust, even hidden by any layers of paint.Finally, it is good to inquire thoroughly about the constituent materials and check whether they are more or less resistant or more or less suitable for the environment in which the structure wants to be placed.Above all, it is essential to check for the presence of toxic substances or paints such as lead paint.For these and other checks it is however possible and advisable to contact a specialized inspector.In addition to the costs of the structure, shipping costs must also be considered.For containers arriving from other countries, these can be more or less high depending on the frequency with which trucks or cargo ships make journeys to our country.A container house usually costs between € 10,000 and € 70,000.The price can fluctuate based on the size, equipment and furnishings with which it is sold.As for the square footage, approximately the cost of a single module can be around 800/1000 euros per square meter, while if you are buying houses composed of several modules the price can even go down to 600 euros per square meter.Obviously, by using more modules, prices can increase further.In addition to the low costs, one of the advantages of the container house is that the planning, delivery and installation times are considerably shorter than those of traditional buildings.Another element in favor is the strong impact in terms of eco-sustainability.In addition to the recycling of a used object, in fact, the saving of CO2 and water during the transport of materials and construction must be considered.The idea of ​​the container house, in fact, stems from the double need to reduce costs and protect the environment.However, as a consequence of the rapid diffusion that this solution has had in recent years, there have been cases in which the container has been purchased new, equally contributing to the saving of CO2 and water, but, in fact, contravening the logic, founding for cargotecture, of reuse.Among the advantages, the stability of the structure and the safety deriving from the materials used must also be considered (remember that the container is traditionally used to contain goods during large and long distances).Finally, among the possible disadvantages, it should be borne in mind that it becomes essential to ensure the absence of those harmful materials that we talked about previously.Also in Italy, the container house is a viable solution.However, there is no special regulation for this type of solution, which will therefore fall within the traditional architectural rules and building regulations.First of all, Italian law provides for fundamental requirements to define habitability and one of these is the minimum living area per inhabitant.Unlike other European Union countries, moreover, Italian law prohibits the construction of a mobile container house, which means that any structure of this type must necessarily have foundations.Also in this case, there is the advantage that the construction of the foundations for a container house is much faster and cheaper than that of a traditional home.However, it is possible to choose to purchase a container and use it for non-residential use, for example as a tool shed or warehouse.In the opening photo: the tiny container houses produced in Malibu by the Buhaus company