Looking back on history, the century long development of container houses, folding houses, prefabricated houses, modular buildings

Container, as a means of transportation, was originally invented by Americans and was first used in the railway transportation in New York in 1921. Subsequently, the UK and mainland Europe also began using containers for direct sea land intermodal transportation. The massive use of containers began during the Vietnam War, when Americans used containers to transport a large number of war materials, which was much more efficient than traditional loading and unloading methods, thus laying the foundation for the development of containers.

The early use of containers was mainly concentrated in the field of cargo transportation, until the 1950s when some architects and designers began to experiment with using containers as building materials to create fast, economical, and sustainable building solutions. In the 1960s and 1970s, container construction was further developed and promoted for the creation of temporary housing, offices, exhibition venues, and more. In the 1980s and 1990s, container architecture became more diverse and innovative, used to create more complex and unique buildings such as museums, art centers, and commercial buildings. After entering the 21st century, with the acceleration of globalization and urbanization, container construction has become an increasingly popular building solution, characterized by speed, economy, sustainability, and flexibility, which can meet different needs and occasions.

It is worth mentioning that British architect Nicholas Lacey proposed the concept of transforming shipping containers into habitable buildings in the 1970s, although it did not receive widespread attention at the time. Until 1987, American architect Phillip Clark legally proposed a technology patent for transforming steel shipping containers into buildings, which was approved in 1989. Since then, container buildings have gradually appeared in the public eye. Subsequently, more and more architects and designers began to explore the various possibilities of shipping containers, applying them to various buildings such as residences, shops, art galleries, etc