The Students From Norway Solving America's Campus Housing Crisis

The solution to America's current campus housing crisis may have already been solved by two students from Norway.

Across America this Fall, universities are facing a chronic shortage of accommodation. At San José State, all incoming students were put on a waiting list, while upper classmen were moved to hotels. At Iowa State, 200 incoming freshmen and transfer students had their requests for on-campus living turned down and more than 400 students were put into temporary dorm rooms. The University of Michigan ran out of housing after record enrolments and 450 freshmen were left without accommodation at the start of this semester.

The problem isn't just confined to America. In the past few years, students from England to Australia have found themselves without accommodation during a housing crunch that's hit universities hard.

But two students from Norway think they've got the answer: shipping containers.

When Magnus Øgård Meisal and Kristoffer Sørstrønen arrived at the University of Stavanger, they were shocked how "hideous" the student accommodation was.

Stavanger, on Norway's west coast, is home to much of Norway's North Sea oil infrastructure, and one of the reasons there's a lack of affordable student housing is that oil companies snap up rental properties.

For the two civil engineering students, the solution seemed obvious: using shipping containers as the building blocks for new, affordable, environmentally friendly student accommodation.

"We were convinced that the module construction methods was the solution to build cheap and efficiently" says Øgård Meisal. "It just had to go through some design and architectural upgrades".

Turning shipping containers into houses isn't a new idea, but the Stavanger students had to significantly improve on existing designs to meet strict health and safety codes for university accommodation. They also insulated the walls, and clad the outside with specially treated wood to cope with cold Norwegian winters.

The self-contained apartments measure 26 square metres (280 square feet), larger than the average student dorm room in Norway. There's a bedroom and study area at one end, a combined kitchen and living room at the other end, with a bathroom and shower in between. The metal ends of the containers have been replaced with windows to let in maximum sunlight.

"There is not realy that much difference when it comes to comfort and living experience, compared to similar size apartments. But the important difference is that we have manage to squeeze out 10 square metres additional space and upgraded the kitchen and interior significantly within the same budget as they are building for today" explains Øgård Meisal.

The container apartments are also environmentally friendly, recycled into something useful instead of melting them down for scrap. "To melt down a shipping container... demands the same amount of energy as normal sized families (would use) in a year" says Øgård Meisal. With a minimum estimated lifespan of 40 years, they've also got a longevity that's attractive to university administrators, and Stavanger University has already ordered more of the modular units to house students on campus.

After graduation, Øgård Meisal and Sørstrønen set up their own company called MyBox to try and make a commercial success of the university project. Now, some of Norway's biggest oil companies are interested in the students' designs as a solution for their own housing problems. Ironically, if enough oil workers moved into shipping container apartments, it would free up more local housing for Stavanger students.