A Travelodge in the UK, that just opened, was built out of 86 shipping containers.  Most of the construction was done offsite in a system developed by Verbus Systems.  Travelodge claims to have saved about half a million pounds vs standard construction methods.(not to mention the environmental benefits of considerably less waste and energy into making the building).  I found the story really heartening and hope  that some interesting work can be done with this system at a larger scale.  This building, however, unfortunately had the misfortune of being covered with a terrible facade.  To see more pictures check it out at Inhabitat.