Hand-Picked Birch Plywood Lines a 24 m² Shipping Container Retreat
Every surface inside the Flacon Cargo Module is pale birch plywood, chosen sheet by sheet for its grain. Behind it sits a salvaged steel shipping container, converted by architects Andris Shneps-Shneppe and Evgeny Makarenko into a 24 m² home that can be moved to a new site.
The module was built for Derevnya, an experimental rural settlement in the Moscow Region developed by the Flacon Design Factory team. The community has no perimeter fences and is open to unusual building formats. Within the container, Andris Shneps-Shneppe and Makarenko, who was also the structural engineer, fitted a double bedroom, a kitchen, a lounge with a fireplace and a full shower room. The whole job, from searching salvage yards for a container fit for living to the final styling, took two and a half months.
Second-Grade Birch, by Choice
The architects chose second-grade (BB) birch plywood over defect-free premium grades. BB sheets keep small knots and natural variation, and each panel was selected by hand to keep the grain rich and avoid the repetition of manufactured patterns. A semi-matte lacquer with a faint sheen brings out the grain and spreads soft reflections through the narrow space.
Storage, worktops and seating are built into the walls and ceiling, so the interior reads as one continuous wooden volume. This keeps the central circulation route clear. Joints between panels run flush across the walls, and a concealed mounting system means no fixings are visible.
A Dark Box With One Open End
Outside, the container keeps its corrugated steel shell, painted dark. In the living area, a large glazed opening leads straight onto a timber terrace, so the lounge continues outdoors. At the other end, a wide window frames the fields from the bed. The team also installed radiant floor heating.
Containers recur as a building block on MaterialDistrict, from a Zurich landmark of reused shipping containers to plywood furniture such as Isokon’s Join collection. The Flacon module now stands in the Derevnya community as a countryside retreat, and because it is still a container, it can be transported to another site.
Book tip: Pretty Small – how smart interior design delivers comfort in small homes, as this 24 m² module shows.
Source: Andris Shneps-Shneppe / Flacon Design Factory (press release) · Photos: Evgeny Makarenko