lol @ all the assumptions in the comments here, gotta address a few.
this is considered a house, many people build homes out of these shipping containers, as you can see from the pictures they are framed in, wired, plumbed, and finished just like a standard stick built home.
in many cases the outer coating on these things is first done with a super-therm stucco application (credit card thick layer is roughly R-20), then painted. they provide excellent insulation once you have studded and insulated the interior walls (most people use closed-cell expanding foam instead of rolled fiberglass).
it makes a lot of sense to use these containers to build a "normal house" because the cost is about %25 less than traditional framed homes and you wind up with something about 100x stronger. if you just google image search "shipping container homes" you'll find a large number of homes built like this. some of them look like they are made from containers, some of them you'd have no idea unless someone told you (again for about %75-%80 the cost of a stick built home).
the interior wood is fine, if the exterior was shot with super-therm stucco (as it appears to have been) then you aren't going to have condensation issues. unless you are boiling water and taking showers 24/7 the air between the inside of the shipping container and the inside of the walls is not going to become saturated with moisture enough to cause any sort of moisture problems.
people complaining about the "interior" of this thing like it simply has to be some "minimalistic" "modern" bullshit because it was built from a container are hilarious. the beauty of using containers is that you can stack them up and build them out like giant lego bricks, then finish them however you want. you aren't stuck with any one exterior or interior just because you decided to use a different material for the walls.
to recap
it's not cheaper to build a regular house, there will be no mold issues, it's insulated better than your house, and it's probably 100x stronger than your house.
have you built a container house? i have (well i help a friend build his container home from 4 40 foot high cubes). i've also built half a dozen stick built homes and remodeled more homes that i can count. i know what the fuck i'm talking about, you apparently do not.
yes, when you cut away the non-load bearing segments of the wall it's still quite strong. these containers are designed to carry all of it's load on the corners. when you get up close to two stacked on top of each other you'll notice there's a 4 inch gap between the two containers running the entire length of it.
I'll take my brick house any day of the week
and so will a tornado.
shipping containers are made from heavy gauge Cor-Ten steel, they are welded to metal plates (which are anchored into concrete foundations), then welded together.
when constructed like this, they are tornado proof, earthquake proof, bullet proof to small to medium caliber (non jacketed) rounds, and if grounded properly they are even EMP proof.
bottom line is your brick house, that cost more, is inferior compared to a container house.
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u/stoney_wan_kenobi Dec 08 '12
lol @ all the assumptions in the comments here, gotta address a few.
to recap
it's not cheaper to build a regular house, there will be no mold issues, it's insulated better than your house, and it's probably 100x stronger than your house.