From the outside, the houses, which usually range from 640 to 3,520 square feet, appear to be mid-century tract homes, their large corrugated boxes covered with special finishes or "skins" and enhanced with custom paint and large windows.

On the inside, they have bamboo floors and energy-efficient appliances. Insulation is provided by recycled denim;  an optional ceramic paint helps form a greater sound barrier against the outside world.

The price tag for all this eco-chic? Generally, architects say, container homes are about 20% cheaper to build than those made with traditional construction, ranging from $87 a square foot for the most basic container home to about $200, depending on location and finishes.

Architects have embraced the idea of shipping containers largely because of their price. With a surplus of hundreds of thousands of containers sitting vacant on U.S. docks due to the imbalance in trade, used containers sell for $1,000 to $2,500, depending on their size and condition. With lumber and steel prices rising, these building blocks are a bargain, and with their 9 1/2-foot height, they have just enough of a clearance to serve as actual rooms, rather than glorified storage sheds. They also have the advantage of being easier to assemble on site than traditional framed construction. That  can speed up the building process on an apartment building by as much as 40%. And they are exceptionally sturdy, a selling point in hurricane-riddled Florida and earthquake-prone California. Its essentially a heavy gauge steel frame house. 

So, with this abundant supply of inexpensive recycled building material, will builders rush to build whole communities of container homes? While that has been done in a few instances in Europe, even container building proponents think it's probably a long shot here, given most Americans' taste for more traditional architecture. The more material you put on top of these containers to change their look, such as stucco, brick and glass, the less of a bargain they are. But in many urban areas, where industrial buildings are being recycled into lofts and people like the spare aesthetic of steel, this might hold great appeal, architects say. Right now, there's still a wow factor about these unusual buildings that holds people's attention.