Southeast Dallas’ Shipping Container Housing Project

January 21, 2021

Designed by Merriman Anderson Architects, the project is repurposing 300 square-foot shipping containers into 19 one-bedroom affordable apartments.

Merriman Anderson/Architects has partnered with CitySquare Housing to design the Lomax Housing Project, an apartment complex of shipping container homes at the intersection of South Malcolm X Boulevard and Louise in Southeast Dallas. The goal of the project is to tackle the issue of affordable housing limitations in the city.

CitySquare Housing is one of the largest Dallas nonprofits working to combat poverty and affordable housing. Their project, The Lomax Container Housing Project, is creatively repurposing shipping containers into 19 one-bedroom affordable apartments in Southeast Dallas at the intersection of South Malcolm X Boulevard and Louise Avenue.

The shipping containers are 300 square feet. The home’s layout features a living area at the front of the space, then a kitchen, bathroom, and lastly, a bedroom at the back of the home. MAA’s team has worked to maintain the containers’ structural integrity to achieve the most efficient use of the materials.

“We are proud to be involved with such a unique project and support a philanthropic effort by CitySquare Housing,” said Merriman Anderson/Architects President Milton Anderson.

The units will be rent-restricted at 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI) and will go for about $906 a month, including utilities. The Lomax Container Housing Project is a prototype that CitySquare Housing intends to build at Dallas’s strategic locations. The goal is to move on to larger sites that will feature 100 to 130 units accepting incomes at the AMI.

The containers will be built prefabricated off-site and delivered and installed by Falcon Structures. MAA’s partners in this project include Summit Consultants, Hunt & Joiner, RLG Consulting Engineers, IntroSpec, and Studio Outside.

Falcon Structures. Summit Consultants, Hunt & Joiner, RLG Consulting Engineers, IntroSpec, and Studio Outside also participated in the project.

The Lomax Container Housing Project is projected to start construction in early 2021.