thanks for the links, this is a no-brainer! DeMaria is in Manhattan Beach is about 15 minutes away from Long Beach - maybe the DISTRICT should do a big story on him and that might prompt the property owners/developers to get him to do a project in the container kingdom (aka Long Beach). I read somewhere that he's even designing a church with containers???? Surely he can come up with something great for Long Beach! keep us connected on this, thanks again!

Hey there, my partner Keith built his house in Canada from shipping containers. You can check us out at zerocabin.com
We are building prefab bunkhouses and emergency shelters.

I agree. I you've got lemons, make lemonade. De Maria has the recipe for lemonade and success with these containers that are stacking up everywhere. Instead of the City or the District going to get him, he should get his act over to the city and show them what the possibilities are - that would be helpful, informative and could lead to some productive things - who is marketing his work?

I agree. If you've got lemons, make lemonade. De Maria has the recipe for lemonade and success with these containers that are stacking up everywhere. Instead of the City or the District going to get him, he should get his act over to the city and show them what the possibilities are - that would be helpful, informative and could lead to some productive things - who is marketing his work?

you cannot solve old problems using old thinking and this is new. why not container buidlings for Long Beach - they're already icons! City needs a person with a vision and guts to do this - gold mine is waiting at the other end for those who venture.

for those who are interested in this type of architecture, this architect was on tv a couple nights ago, here is a clip:

http://www.cinematical.com/2008/06/03/exclusive...

This architect was at the DWELL on Design Conference atthe LA Convention Center last weekend and not only did he have many residential projects that were built or under construction, but he had commercial, educational, multi-family buildings and even a church made from containers. He was a humble guy who spent the time to fully answer all my questions about this type of building technology. It could be appropriate to see some of his container projects in LB or SP.

I hate, hate, hate shipping container architecture!!!!!!!!!!!! ...but this guys stuff is good.

Totally agree with #8. IContainer srchitecture a one-line joke that once you've heard it, you don't need to hear it again. Please. There's lots of better, more creative options. Nobody wants to live in a box.

#8 raises an excellent point. I too was once put off by the container work by Demaria Design, but the buildings are "growing" on me. I've been by a couple of the projects and they're nice, much nicer than I envisioned. #9 - I understand your idea about the box, but I just don't think it's true. So many homes, mediterranean, modern, colonial, etc. are nothing more than boxes. In fact, Demaria's container projects do everything possible to not look like a box . That redondo beach house looks more like a shifting geometric sculpture than a box. Every new idea has encountered rejection and this one is going through the same process. Also, my wife says (and when she talks, I listen!), "who gives a hoot if it is a box, if it's safe, good quality and affordable, I'll take it... most everything else here in Southern California is super expensive and I really don't have a choice. Demaria is offering quality choices for those who aren't wealthy. My wife always seems to be right...

redondo project is really a great looking house and the containers are front center - captain jack, my wife is always right too and my buddy Bill's wife is the same way...

only Long Beach can have over a million containers in it's port but no container buildings - go figure! and another thing... just found this link to architect who is doing a project in East LA

http://la.curbed.com/archives/2008/06/europeans...