The final design is "all about light and shadow," with five glass doors to the outside, 23 windows, and nine holes for skylights, preinstalled by Prefab House. DeWitt chose dry-freight containers called Hi Cubes; at 9 feet, 6 inches, they would give her the high ceilings she hoped for.

"Usually containers used for construction are not considered seaworthy anymore," DeWitt said. "In our case, they did not have, at the time, any tall cubes that were not seaworthy, so we ended up buying boxes that are newer."

General contractor Adam Dorn of Norcal Construction, the Santa Cruz firm that built the home's foundation, is now at work on the septic and electrical systems, drywall and insulation, work Dorn expects to complete by August.

From saline-intrusion and flooding in the Mekong Delta to typhoons along the central coast, Vietnam is also home to communities living in high risk areas.

For decades, Vietnamese families have adapted their houses themselves, many building ad hoc mezzanines to avoid flooding.

In more recent years organisations including the Red Cross and Women's Unions, as well as local authorities, have been trying to help people develop more resilient housing.

But in order to ensure such projects are successful, "private architects' support is critical", according to Boram Kim, an urban specialist with UN-Habitat in Vietnam.

"State and local government authorities are well aware that such houses are needed for the poor, but have little technical knowledge for realising their ideas," she told AFP.

"Architects have technical knowledge for reducing the housing construction cost while making it storm proof," she said, cautioning that it was important for designers to listen to the needs of local communities.

Containers can be stacked 10 storeys high without additional supports. The steel skin itself takes the load like a “Construction Solutions” structure thus cutting cost for additional columns or beams. The design of a 100 M tall high rise structure (approx. 32 storeys) calls for erecting portal frames connected with steel girders placed every 8 storeys. Each 8 storey self-supporting stack rests on these girders and the module repeats vertically.