Shipping containers that can no longer be used in cargo transportation are accumulating in large numbers in ports all over the world. At the same time, the usage of fully modular and prefabricated components in the construction sector is on a constant rise in recent years. Reusing these containers in their current form without melting them down, significantly elevates their lifetime usage as well as opens new and interesting options for modular buildings.

While there are already many container buildings worldwide, the area of energy-efficient container houses has hardly been touched. Therefore, the goal of this thesis is to show the usage of shipping containers to plan energy efficient buildings in three different climate zones, while each building itself is fully climate adaptable for its location using passive architecture.

To accomplish this primary focus, a detailed analysis of the climate conditions of the locations is necessary. The tree locations are Stockholm, Berlin, and Cape Town. Afterwards a uniform base model will be developed, depending on the specifications of these shipping containers. This Base Case can be adapted to three different climate conditions, by modification and adaptation to create buildings with an effective passive architecture for each location’s climate conditions. These modifications will be used to develop a suitable design for each climate zone with all specifications described and visualized for each case of usage.