. >> this is containers on grand, 16 steel former shipping containers that now form eight 740-square-footedroom, one-bathroom apartments. it's the brainchild of brian stark and wes james, architects and builders who saw these formerly discarded containers as an opportunity. >> because of the trade deficit in the united states, there's a lot of product that comes into the u.s. from overseas. but we export very little. >> typically, shipping containers are produced in china. when they land here, 9 out of 10 times, they don't leave our shore. so we have a shipping container sitting in ports along the shoreline. >> the 16 containers have now become a sustainable-housing project on what was once the kool kar used-car lot in downtown phoenix. each of these 9,500-pound steel crates once traveled the high seas and were wasting away in california before they were salvaged. >> these containers are meant to hold 40,000 to 50,000 pounds each, be stacked 11 high and sent across the ocean. and they're incredibly over-structured for what we're using them for. we did everything we possibly could so that,