????當(dāng)然，加爾文并不指望所有人都住進外墻波紋起伏的鋼鐵箱子。SG Blocks投資者Vector集團的總裁兼首席執(zhí)行官霍華德?羅勃指出，人們聽說集裝箱住宅后的第一反應(yīng)往往是：“哇，誰愿意住進一個看起來集裝箱的房子？”不過，他補充說，親眼看到此種住宅的人士往往完全想不到其建筑材料是用過的集裝箱。在最近一次展銷會上，加爾文叫員工在樣板房一邊切了個大洞，以展露其建筑構(gòu)造，否則的話，沒人能看出它是集裝箱改建的。

????加爾文或許是第一個將集裝箱住宅概念發(fā)展成企業(yè)的人，但他的靈感其實來自一位商船船員兼海事工程師。后者早在2000年代初就在南卡羅來納州查爾斯頓建造了一套基于集裝箱的住宅，并辦妥了相關(guān)手續(xù)，獲得房管部門的認可。見到這些集裝箱后，加爾文馬上想起了“綠色建筑預(yù)制塊”（green building block）這個名稱，他的公司正是得名于此。

????今年7月，SG Blocks 宣布計劃與CDSI Holdings合并，后者是一家主要為投資和收購目的而設(shè)的控股公司，上周交易最終完成，SG Blocks通過這一反向收購成功上市。根據(jù)該公司向美國證券交易委員會（SEC）申報的文件，SG Blocks在截至6月30日的6個月中實現(xiàn)260萬美元營收，但凈虧損超過50萬美元。該公司稱，這一虧損主要是因為并購及上市事宜的開支較大。

????加爾文此前曾執(zhí)掌過非營利組織，專注于建設(shè)價格低廉或滿足特定需要的住宅，同時也是SG Blocks最初的種子期投資者。公司成立初期，加爾文決定，與其追求攬下大量項目，不如側(cè)重軍方訂單，與大公司合作，從而積累信譽。

????他的第一個客戶就是美國陸軍，后者要求他在布拉格堡建設(shè)一個行政總部。SG Blocks最近在休斯頓港完成了兩座大型建筑，動用集裝箱32個；還在一艘美國海軍核動力航空母艦的甲板上打造了一個大型辦公與訓(xùn)練設(shè)施，共用了47個40英尺長的集裝箱。

????That's not to say that Galvin expects us all to live in corrugated steel boxes. Howard Lorber, president and CEO of SG Blocks investor Vector Group, says that the initial reaction often is, "Wow, who wants to be in a house that looks like a container?" But he adds that people who see the structures often have no idea they were built out of material once used to ship cargo. At a recent trade show, Galvin had his crew cut a hole in the side of their model house to expose the structural system because no one realized it was made from containers.

????While Galvin may have been the one to turn the concept into a business, he got the idea from a merchant mariner and Naval engineer who had built and permitted a container-based house in Charleston, SC, in the early 2000s. He immediately saw these containers as what he calls a "green building block" -- hence the name.

????In July, SG Blocks announced its intention to merge with CDSI Holdings, a holding company primarily created for investments and acquisitions. The deal was finalized last week, which makes SG Blocks a public company. Its SEC filings show that SG Blocks generated $2.6 million in revenue for the six months ending June 30, but had a net loss of more than half a million dollars. The company said that was in large part due to the costs associated with an emerging operation going public.

????Galvin, who had previously been running not-for-profit groups focusing on affordable and special needs housing, was the original seed investor. Rather than chase a lot of projects, he decided early on to focus on military contracts and work for large corporations to help build credibility.

????His first client was the U.S. Army, which tapped him to build an administrative headquarters at Fort Bragg. SG Blocks recently finished up two large buildings made up of 32 containers at the Port of Houston, and a large office and training structure on the deck of a U.S. Navy nuclear aircraft carrier made up of 47 40-foot containers.