Lots of creativity.
http://www.jetsongreen.com/2009/01/adam-kalkin-maine-container-house.html (http://www.jetsongreen.com/2009/01/adam-kalkin-maine-container-house.html)
http://green.yahoo.com/blog/daily_green_news/8/twelve-amazing-shipping-container-houses.html (http://green.yahoo.com/blog/daily_green_news/8/twelve-amazing-shipping-container-houses.html)
cool
I'll bet some of those schemes are more expensive per square foot than a steel stud or wood stick built house. I think the complex in Amsterdam is the most practical and efficient.
I've thought about a business model where I would buy used containers, retrofit them into nice homes and sell them. I haven't done a proforma or anything so I don't know if it would be very profitable.
A quick napkin calculation shows that its probably cheaper and less headache to just buy a used RV. The container is cool because you design the inside however you want and even combine more than one.
With all the cutting and insulating you would have to do to make one of these livable, its probably easier, quicker and better to just dissassemble the top from the sides from the bottom and reassemble them with glass and other materials into a different shape; that is, just recycle the steel panels.