Shedworking

Ontario Design Show: Shed theme

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:46:00 +0000

The Ontario Interior Design Show claims to be Canada's largest contemporary design fair and the 2010 show next January promises to be a particularly interesting one for shedworkers since one of the feature exhibits - Five Small Rooms - is dedicated to shedlike atmospheres. Here's what they say:

Spotted in the trendiest international design magazines or perhaps in your neighbour’s backyard, the podspace, aka the shed or bunky is au courant. Ontario residents are taking advantage of a building bylaw allowing 100 sq ft free-standing units without a building permit. On both city and country property, used as an office or studio, guest room, kids’ play room or den, these 100sq ft spaces serve a multitude of functions while extending one’s living space. See how 5 designers, decorators and stylists each transform a basic 100 sq ft shed into a small room.

One for the diary.

Not in my backyard

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:12:00 +0000

Artist Rob Voerman is perhaps more accurately described as an architectural sculpture and much of his work has distinct shedlike tendencies. Above is his Not in my backyard made from steel, glass and polycarbonate which went on display earlier this year at the Biennial Open Source in Amsterdam. Here's what he says about it:

In the sculpture, various different functions/references are combined: shed, nightclub, church and bar. Slightly opposing the highly controlled/designed Dutch society.Occasionally the work will be used by local inhabitants in a somewhat informal way. Part of the work will be, that the vegetation around the work will not be controlled and grow wild during the exhibition

It's well worth having a browse around the rest of his work and the philosophy behind it.
Thanks to Lloyd Alter for the alert
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Saturday's posts are sponsored by Euroffice.co.uk, the UK’s most extensive office supplies website. Supplying a huge choice of envelopes, labels and a whole lot more to shedworkers everywhere!

And don't forget the November offer from Euroffice exclusively for readers of Shedworking is 15% off all calendars and diaries until the start of December. Simply click here to reach their online shop.

Second Skin

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:04:00 +0000

Here's another rather natty way of installing a shedworkingesque structure into your home, Second Skin from Renesiebum. It's basically a kind of bookcase/wardrobe which opens out into an enclosed, screened-off space. Photos by Guus Alders.

Floating shedworking marinas

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:05:00 +0000

It's interesting to hear the latest news from H2Office on the back of my predictions for the future of shedworking: while their first floating office unit is getting close to completion, they are also now talking about the possibility of marina operators running a floating business park. According to Steve Evans at H2Offices this would:
* provide a turn-key solution for the development of a new income stream
* make use of under-utilised water (perhaps too shallow/inaccessible for boats)
* fill up empty berths with income-generating units
* offer office unit dimensions suitable for standard marina berths

Their future plans also include: a flotilla kitted out as luxury hotel rooms (a floatel); a tsunami relief and emergency hospital kit out (since it's transportable by Chinook); and a 'stand-alone' off-grid version for mooring away from power supplies and for remote locations. Indeed the H2Office team has been very busy recently. The design won the "Spatial" category of the Cardiff Design Festival and has also been shortlisted for the South Wales Business Awards in the category of Business & Technological Innovation.

3,000th post: Shedworking past, present and future

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:05:00 +0000

Today marks a small landmark in Shedworking's little life, the 3,000th post, and to celebrate it I asked folk on Twitter and Facebook what I should write about. Many of you very kindly wrote in with your suggestions and questions so I've picked the three most popular...

1) What is your favourite shed?
A very tricky one. I've always been a sucker for George Bernard Shaw's revolving writing hut but if I had to pick one that I'd really like, I think it would have to be Laura Geary's mobile shed office (pictured above), a thing of beauty and much loved by its owner.

2) What is the best way of keeping warm in the garden office during winter?
Nice warm slippers. Every time.

3) What is the future of garden offices?
With my Mystic Shed hat on here are some predictions:
- There'll be a continued rise in the numbers of shedworkers since more and more people are now working from home, either for a larger company or as a one-person band: as most houses simply aren't sufficiently large enough to properly cope with this, shedworking is the obvious solution
- While wood is king at the moment, other materials will start to become more popular as new suppliers enter the market and designers start to experiment with the possibilities
- Shedworkers will start to operate their own informal co-working spaces, especially those who don't need a huge space to run their business
- Some form of Association of Garden Buildings Suppliers will be established to help buyers navigate the problems of purchasing a garden office and ensure that there is a recognised standard mark of excellence

Many thanks to everybody who tunes into Shedworking and here's to the next 3,000 posts! As always, your thoughts on any of the above are very welcome indeed.
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Thursday posts are sponsored by Vivid Green, the low energy garden building specialists. Click here for more details

Fabulous prefabs wanted for new television series

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:43:00 +0000

A new television series is looking for ordinary people to star alongside Amanda Lamb in UKTV HOME’s brand new series My Flatpack Home. Have you bought a piece of land, got planning permission and are only a few short weeks away from starting work? They want to hear from anyone on the verge of building; be it an oak-framed dream home or a flat pack granny annexe; an eclectic Scandinavian modern starter home or a restaurant; a weekend bolt hole, a retirement oasis or just some extra space in the garden. The aim of the series is to refresh the notion that prefab equals post war army barracks - instead they want to feature the sort of ‘must-have’ architect inspired designs (such as Michelle Kaufmann's Sidebreeze pictured above) that are affordable as well as exciting, stylish and quick to build.

If this sounds like something you want to be part of, or just to find out more, please email jo.higlett@octoberfilms.co.uk or call 0207 284 6868.
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Wednesday's posts are sponsored by The Garden Room Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here.

Garden Buildings Direct: 5% off promotion this month

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:01:00 +0000

All this month, Garden Buildings Direct is offering 5% off when you spend over £100 from www.gardenbuildingsdirect.co.uk. So you would save £72.50 off the BillyOh Frontier ‘Santa Fe’ Log Cabin above or £43.50 off the 10’x16’ BillyOh Lincoln Workshop.
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Wednesday's posts are sponsored by The Garden Room Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here.

Decopierre: Add stone effect to your garden office

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:36:00 +0000

Mike Peters Roof Coating Co specialises in an interesting wall finish called Decopierre, a lime-based, hand-carved approach to adding a unique touch to exterior walls so that your timber can be made to look like stone or brick (and in any colour). Take a look at the video above to see the transformation of a shed in Cheshire.
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Wednesday's posts are sponsored by The Garden Room Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here.

L'ermitage

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:20:00 +0000

Not strictly a garden office but ideal for some 'get away from it all' shedworking, L'ermitage is an adjustable shedlike atmosphere from Dans mon Arbre. Lots more photos at the site and some marvellously evocative French descriptions of how to enjoy it.
Via Lloyd Alter at Treehugger who's finding some great sheds this week (see below)

Colin Veebrock Builds a Green Roof from Lloyd Alter on Vimeo.

More information on this at Green Garage

Vote for Shed Design Competition finalists

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:37:00 +0000

John Coupe's marvellous competition to design a garden office which he has been running on his Secrets of Shedbuilding has reached the point where members of the public can now vote on their favourite from a shortlist of 10. The finalists are very varied and here are three of Shedworking's favourite. Above, Architect's Garden Studio by Jelena Sucur. Below is Junk Art by sriram.And finally, Andrew Scherr's rather nifty ECO Traveler - Office on the road Don't forget to go and vote here.

Beach Hut Advent Calendars

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:42:00 +0000

Regular readers will remember that last year we featured the marvellous day-by-day real life beach hut advent calendar organised in Brighton by Beyond. So I'm delighted to be able to say that Martin from Beyond has been in touch to say that not only will they be running the event again this year (we'll be covering it every day here on Shedworking) but that they have also produced a rather lovely Advent calendar that you can have in your home too using beach hut images and photos from last year's event. They can be bought through the new shop section of their website for the excellent price of just £5 (+p&p). There'll certainly be one in Shedworking HQ.
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Monday's posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists.Click here for more details.

Shedworking now available on the Kindle

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:58:00 +0000

Those of you with a Kindle will be delighted to learn that you can now download each and every post on Shedworking onto your marvellous machine (so long as you don't live in the UK) for the ridiculously low, low price of merely $0.99 a month. Kindle Blogs are auto-delivered wirelessly to your Kindle and updated throughout the day so you get the latest post superduper swiftly. And best of all it's risk free as all Kindle Blog subscriptions start with a 14-day free trial (and you can cancel at any time during the free trial period). More information and the chance to sign up here.
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Monday's posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists.Click here for more details.

Redwood Stone: Go to work in a folly

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:52:00 +0000

Wells-based, second generation family business Redwood Stone jointly owned and managed by brothers Martin and Tim Redwood is one of the rarest of garden building businesses, a stone garden folly specialist. Their first folly appeared at Chelsea Flower Show eight years ago and they describe themselves as "the finest designers and producers of ‘aged look’ reclamation and weathered stone garden and architectural ornament". Their Gothic Folly studio, pictured above, would be particularly suitable for shedworking and indeed Redwood Stone say it is "the feather in the company’s cap".
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Monday's posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists.Click here for more details.

Lifeguards: towerworking

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 19:32:00 +0000

While people do use beach huts to work in (as well as relax), the seaside is also the home of lifeguards whose shedlike workplaces come in all shapes and sizes. There's a nice selection of some of the most interesting builds at Bedsearcher including this wonderful one pictured above, designed by Ulrich Müther and Dietrich Otto at the beach in Binz, Rügen, in Germany.
Thanks to Gregor for the suggestion

End of Sumter Street shed music

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:00:00 +0000

A nice piece in the Wall Street Journal by Valerie Bauerlein looks at the ongoing story of the shed-sized metal self-storage units at Sumter Street Self in Columbia which have played a key part in the city's music life. Over the last 20 years, up and coming musicians of all ages have used them as rehearsal spaces (including Hootie & the Blowfish) but after a two-year campaign by a Bach-loving, Hootie-hating local resident who objected to the noise pollution, the local authority has slapped a ban on the practice sessions. It's an interesting piece and well worth a browse.
Photo by Andy McMillan
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Saturday's posts are sponsored by Euroffice.co.uk, the UK’s most extensive office supplies website. Supplying a huge choice of envelopes, labels and a whole lot more to shedworkers everywhere!

Arctic mobile unit

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:04:00 +0000

A live/(shed)work space from 2-B-2 Architecture which provides enough space for three shedworkers to live and work in arctic conditions for a fortnight. The steel-framed structure, which is easily movable, comes not only with a solar battery but also a gadget for melting snow.Via designboom

Double OO ‘96: showroom shedworking

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:08:00 +0000

Double OO ‘96 is an interesting shedworking space designed by Case-Real, refurbishing a hut extension on a terrace to act as an office and showroom. All surfaces are covered in grey timber with the beams painted white. Lots more photos - by Hiroshi Mizusaki - at their site and Dezeen.Thanks to Hannah at Dreamwall for the alert

Euroffice - exclusive deal on 2010 calendars/diaries

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:04:00 +0000

The November offer from the fine folk at Euroffice exclusively for readers of Shedworking is 15% off all calendars and diaries until the start of December. Simply click here and ensure you're all ready for the changeover without any last minute worries.

Euroffice is the UK’s largest online stationery and envelope suppliers

Choosing a shed - Dab Den

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:28:00 +0000

The prefab Dab Den - which are individually bespoked for each client - comes from Aberdeen-based Dab Architecture. They feature all the usuals with pine or oak flooring, timber claddings plus various door options (bi-fold, sliding and double sliding): extras include photovaltaic solar panels, underfloor heating, kitchen and shower modules, multimedia centre, rooflight, decking and, indeed, bar.
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Thursday posts are sponsored by Vivid Green, the low energy garden building specialists. Click here for more details

Sipsform Sustainable Buildings

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:39:00 +0000

Architects Hiscox Parladé have several interesting designs for garden offices and similar shedlike structures on their blog, Sipsform Sustainable Buildings including the Universal Option above and Shepherd's Hut below. There are also layout blueprints but sadly not much detail.
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Wednesday's posts are sponsored by The Garden Room Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here.

Rewrite: head-only shedworking

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:16:00 +0000

Rewrite is a titchy shedlike atmosphere for your head from GamFratesi, adding some shedworkingesque privacy to the traditional office environment or as they put it "a kind of isolating working bubble" for openplan offices, public spaces or indeed the home. Here's what they say:

The screen is upholstered and covered with textile because of its visual and acoustic characteristics. It has a cave-like shape and creates a secure and intimate sphere, which partially closes out disturbing light and sounds. It has a doublesided acoustic function that protects against noise from the outside as well as from the inside.

Via Dezeen

Running a garden office business

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:28:00 +0000

We concentrate on shedworkers themselves on Shedworking, but it's important to remember that actually designing and bulding garden offices is a business (and indeed industry) in itself. There's an interesting case study in this month's Federation of Small Businesses magazine, First Voice by Tim Gillett, about the expansion of Smart Garden Offices. Focusing on the government's newly-launched Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme, it's well worth a read.

Shomera Solo

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:21:00 +0000

If 2008 was the year of the eco-friendly garden office, 2009 has been the year of the small garden office. Here's another model, the Solo, which suppliers Shomera say "will fit into even the smallest urban garden". Here's what they say about it:

Supplied with a 10-year structural guarantee, the Solo is constructed with the standards you’d expect from Shomera: multi-layer, timber frame construction, high insulation values and low-E double glazing. In addition, the Shomera Solo can be installed in a matter of days and does not need planning permission.

Judith Morgan: shedworker (nearly)

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:14:00 +0000

Wealth coach, accountant, property investor and investment agent Judith Morgan is also just about to become a shedworker and has been sharing the build (by Michael's Garden Offices) on twitter and on her blog. She's very pleased indeed so far with Michael Cullinane's workmanship and general approach to shedbuilding and observes he's just about to move down to Dorset with his business.
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Monday's posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists.Click here for more details.

Charterhall Road: Posh potting shed

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:30:00 +0000

A lovely design from Helen Lucas Architects who describe it as a "posh potting shed" combined with alterations to the landscape to provide better enjoyment of an already beautiful garden. It is built with cedar boarding, aluminium and glass, and the aluminium roof extends over the kitchen back door providing a covered route to the 'potting shed' for rainy days. It's well worth having a look around the rest of the site because while there are no other garden offices as such, there are plenty of excellent shedlike extensions and garden rooms.
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Monday's posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists.Click here for more details.