This college dorm was built by stacking shipping containers atop 50-year-old grain silos

Updated Mar 12, 2014

Johannesburg shipping container dorm

A new dorm at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa was built using shipping containers stacked atop 50-year-old grain silos.

According to a report from The Citizen, construction on the 15-story Mill Junction dormitory was completed in January and students have already taken up residence. The structure was developed by the firm Cintiq and construction only took a year.

19fdis6zeh945jpgCintiq acquired the silos for about $372,000 (4 million South African Rand) and construction of the dorm came in at just $2.8 million (30 million Rand)—a small sum and a short amount of construction time for a modern college dorm.

According to Gizmodo, the grain silos had sat empty for years and required installing floors and cutting windows into the silos’ thick concrete walls. To cut the windows, Cintiq had to import a diamond-titanium blade. Once the silos were ready, a large crane lifted the containers into place and crews got to work cutting windows and and outfitting the containers with all the amenities of a regular apartment.

The result is a little grungy from the outside, but inside the living space is quite nice and the views of the city are great. Plus, students reportedly love the units and the dorm is completely full.

You can view more images of Mill Junction at the dorm’s Facebook page by clicking here.