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Get in touch.


Andrew Tang Smith

Principal Architect

[email protected] +61 421 150 892

Carissa Araminta

Principal Designer

[email protected]

Adapt Container Homes

Kalgoorlie, Western Australia

A new era of modular Australian housing


In Progress

2026

residential-multi-dwelling

Adapt Container Homes is Studio Tangara’s exploration into a new era of modular Australian housing — one that embraces sustainability, material honesty, and the expressive potential of industrial architecture. Formed from a series of six repurposed sea containers, each dual‑level, dual‑key home reimagines what compact living can be when thoughtful design and robust construction come together.

At the heart of the project is a commitment to circularity and adaptive reuse. The containers — modified, fitted out, and certified offshore — arrive in Australia as precision‑built modules ready for rapid on‑site assembly. Within days, the skeletal framework of each home is established, allowing local craftsmanship to take over: the roof and balcony structures, carports, rammed earth garden walls, and timber screening are all fabricated by local suppliers and integrated seamlessly in situ. Materiality drives the architectural character. Recycled aluminium standing‑seam cladding, a true “forever metal,” wraps the upper levels with a refined industrial sheen. Timber screening softens the edges, filtering light and providing privacy, while rammed earth garden walls anchor the homes to the landscape with warmth and permanence. Native planting, permeable driveways, and individual water tanks reinforce the project’s environmental ethos, creating a resilient, low‑maintenance setting that will mature beautifully over time.

Watch the video below of how each home comes together on site.

Inside, the interiors balance the rawness of the container shell with a surprising sense of warmth. OSB linings provide flexibility for movement during transport while delivering a textured, contemporary finish. Colour‑blocked cabinetry in burnt sienna and bushland green introduces a grounded, earthy palette, complemented by industrial exposed‑cable lighting that nods to the project’s origins. A system of modular planked ceilings conceals container junctions and allows for structural movement, ensuring the interiors feel cohesive, intentional, and calm. Adapt Container Homes challenges the conventions of traditional construction. It demonstrates how modular systems, when paired with thoughtful detailing and robust materials, can achieve an elevated architectural outcome — one that is efficient, expressive, and deeply connected to place. The result is a high‑end industrial aesthetic that feels both enduring and distinctly Australian.