Is one's box also their castle?

When architect Mark Strauss sees a shipping container, he doesn't think of cargo holds. Instead, he thinks of housing. He imagines these hulking steel boxes - which weigh from 4,000 to 9,000 pounds - as stackable living units; as modular, low-cost homes or shelters that can help alleviate the mounting surplus of containers piling up in American ports.
Recently, as part of a national design competition, Mr. Strauss and a team of associates came up with a plan to convert hundreds of shipping containers into 351 multilevel duplex units in Gloucester, Mass.