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LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 7.16 93 louisville.com givelocallouisville.org Te trend isn't unique to Louisville, and it's not really new. LOT-EK, a New York-based architecture frm, was experimenting with container dwellings in the early 2000s. In 2005, a developer in Amsterdam built a huge student- housing complex entirely of containers. Brooklyn, Toronto and Las Vegas are home to open-air marketplaces where vendors set up shop in containers. Te developers behind the Schnitzelburg Container Homes and the owner of Copper & Kings have cited a bar built from containers in Austin, Texas, as a source of inspiration. Copper & Kings co-owner Joe Heron credits a sense of environmentalism as one of the forces behind the trend. (After a container hauls cargo a long distance, it might just sit there.) Semones, who's procured about 50 containers from shipping companies, says it's cheaper for companies to continue making new containers than ship empty ones back. Containers also get decommissioned after so many years in use, at which point they get sold. Tey're made from COR-TEN, a type of weathering steel with a high nickel content. It develops a coating of fne-textured rust that protects the base metal, which makes the containers ideal for staying sturdy out in the elements. "Tey have this sense of drama, driven out of functionality, that's quite exciting," Heron says. Mark Foxworth, the architect for the Schnitzelburg Container Homes project, says, "I thought it was going to be met with a lot of skepticism, like, 'Oh, here we go with this trendy project.' But it resonates with a lot of people." Semones says he's gotten tons of inquiries about working on residential projects. (One misconception he and Foxworth encounter: Building a container home is cheap. It's not. After creature comforts like insulation, plumbing and electrical systems are installed, the cost per square foot is comparable to a normal house.) In the future, look for more shipping containers in the city's restaurant scene. Semones, for one, is working with a local restaurateur on an idea for mobile kitchens.