Sunday, July 31, 2011

Garden office annexe to house boat

Here's an interesting idea, an Eco Den from Alternative Space being used as an annexe to a house boat on Regent's Canal, London.
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Friday, July 29, 2011

Cristal Box

A stunning shedlike atmosphere by Gandiblasco which they call Cristal Box and actually describe as an "outdoor pergola system". It's made of anodized or thermo-lacquered aluminium and the floor is a kind of 'wood' which they say is made using plant and plastic fibres. The ceiling is phenolic plate and the roof is galvanised sheeting. Glass not included.
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Fridays posts are sponsored by Swift Foundations. We design bespoke, eco friendly, foundation solutions. Our Plinths are LABC system approved and manufactured to British Standard BS8110 by a ISO 9000 company. www.swiftfoundations.co.uk for details.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Decorating your shed

Making your shed your own me space is one of the joys of shedworking. Here are two examples, above, the interior of Christian 'Docuden' Payne's new garden office with his trademark Che image (do click the link, it's well worth a read if you're a Guevera fan) and below, awardwinning garden designer Jo Thompson's shed with magnolia in full magnificence.
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Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Disco caravan

We're big fans of the Disco Shed so were delighted to discover what is effectively the 'disco caravan', one of five wooden pavilions by architects 1/100 which have been placed in the garden of the Quai Branly Museum, Paris. Each pavilion serves a different purpose (information point, ice cream stall, creche, stage and disco) with comfortable chairs all around them for relaxation - after September 4 they will move on to a new location. 
Via dezeen
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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Mobile police shedworking


A marvellous mobile shedworking space by Gesamtkonzept Architekten, a prefab police station at the Turkish Consulate in Hanover: on the steel frame it has wood-effect laminated panels (the colour chosen to fit in with the reddish brown of Christ Church across the road) and large windows with curtains. It is fully insulated and does not need air conditioning. The police officers previously made do with an ancient VW bus. 
Via dezeen where there are lots more photos (hat tip to Treehugger).
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Monday, July 25, 2011

Could YOU be a small shed sponsor?

Common Farm Flowers is a cut flower and floristry business: Georgie Newbery and her artist husband Fabrizio Boccha grow, cut and tie all the flowers they use and they have been invited to be 'Green Shoots' at the National Gardening Show which will be held at the Bath & West showground in early September.

"They've given us the opportunity to build a show garden in which, naturally, we are going to need to build a very small shed, the space we have is 6x4m," explains Georgie, "and Fabrizio has already started building the shed but we would still like some sponsorship, either in the form of money to pay for the materials or in materials. I should warn potential sponsors that our shed will have a ramshackle charm - we are not into modernist perfection at Common Farm Flowers and are are keen recyclers. Any shed built by Fabrizio will have a re-cycled feel."

Any potential sponsors should e-mail her at georgie@common-farm.com - they will be flagged up liberally in literature they distribute at the show and on their Twitter and Facebook feeds as well as on their website.
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Sunday, July 24, 2011

Garden sheds take over Stratford today

Thirteen specially commissioned cultural sheds are on show in Stratford today. SHEDspace is a new one day festival running from 12pm to 6pm today with shed installations throughout the town centre, each presenting an activity which ranges from film to fashion, digital art to theatre, circus and dance.The majority of the Sheds have been created by local artists although there are one or two specially invited guests including cellist and digital artist Peter Gregson choreographer Rosie Whitney Fish and Zimbabwean-born artist Thurle Wright. The Festival is presented by Stratford Rising, a consortium of organisations based in Stratford who are working together to raise the profile and sing the praises of culture in Stratford.

Mark Prescott ShedSPACE curator said: "Sheds seem to be a very British concept. So many people use them as places of reflection or an opportunity to pursue a hobby, interest or obsession. The activities presented in the festival expand or play with that central idea. In addition the Sheds have been positioned in such a way as to draw audiences on a journey around Stratford itself."

Here's what you can enjoy

• Fashion and dance

Visitors to Stratford Shopping Centre will be able to take part in a swap shop and fashion project, watching as two stylists go head-to-head in a fashion challenge. Choreographer Rosie Whitney Fish who has worked with London Fashion Week, Vidal Sasson and Wella, will be creating the ultimate dance swish together with a series of pop-up performances of fashion inspired dance.

• Theatre and performance art

Theatre Venture’s Miniscule Olympics starts with a slo-mo marathon and proceeds with a series of quirky Olympic-inspired activities. Stratford Circus have created their very own circus shed complete with tightrope and acrobatics. Anthems at the prize winning ceremony are provided by the New London Orchestra. Gasp have turned their shed into a beautiful Victorian Toy Theatre and are presenting two shows Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves and Theatre Royal begin the process of throwing their stage open to the public in 2012 with an Open Stage Shed

• Art and Design
Artist Thurle Wright creates a participative opportunity to create a public art project using her Shed as skeleton for audiences to build and write stories using cardboad boxes. There is scope for more than a 1,000 boxes to be painted and decorated and from a unique public sculpture created during the day.

• Digital
Visitors to Stratford’s Old Town Hall Square will also be able to give their warts and all views on the Olympics to journalists and bloggers from A New Direction (explanation of A New Direction), who will be recording the responses as part of a live blog stream from the festival. Cellist and Digital Media Artist Peter Gregson is inviting audiences to collaborate with him in an attempt to capture a soundscape of the festival.

• Miscellaneous
Stratford Picture House have turned their shed into a ‘cinema karaoke’ while also offering a live musical accompaniment to Buster Keaton’s The General. Hungry audiences can eat their way across 5 continents courtesy of Northern Imagination who have been inspired by the rising London trend in street food. Discover Children’s Centre have designed a beautiful shed full of escaping stories where children have to help Joe the Story Keeper to create new stories so that the shed does not empty.
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Saturday, July 23, 2011

Can sheds save the NHS?

Paymaster general and Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude believes that new hospital buildings could well include more shedlike atmospheres as the UK government looks to save money while still providing high quality buildings, according to Building Design.

The magazine reports that Maude said hospital buildings could be built “as sheds around people and equipment that can be reconfigured very quickly in 10 or 20 years’ time when needs change. We need to build in flexibility. We need to have a shell that’s capable of being reconfigured. At the moment, we’re building in obsolescence.”

Of course those that following Shedworking know that this process is already underway and that garden office buildings are increasingly being used by hospitals around the country. One example, pictured above, is by in.it.studios, a garden room extension for St Oswalds Hospice in Newcastle which is a Rehabilitation Room: it's 5.9m x 7.6m, cedar clad and as in.it.studios say, "the timber construction distinguishes itself from the brick built hospice with a contemporary aesthetic yet retains an appearance sympathetic to its environment".
Thanks to Lloyd Alter for the alert

Friday, July 22, 2011

Le cabanon, nouvel espace de vie

Qui a dit qu'un cabanon ne servait qu'au rangement? Aux États-Unis et en Europe, le phénomène du shed chic et des «cabanons à vivre» ne cesse de faire des adeptes.
Read more at Cyberpress.ca.
Photo fournie par Modern Cabana.
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Fridays posts are sponsored by Swift Foundations. We design bespoke, eco friendly, foundation solutions. Our Plinths are LABC system approved and manufactured to British Standard BS8110 by a ISO 9000 company. www.swiftfoundations.co.uk for details.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Rooftop shedworking

According to The Independent, "space-savvy homeowners are changing the face of the urban extension" by building on top of houses rather than merely extending them sideways. Here's a snippet:
"Building up is a way to create new rooms, especially bedrooms, (the most sought-after addition, according to the survey by RICS), and few can deny that there's something uplifting and even transcendent about the rooftop view; an eyrie from where the world can be safely observed."
Pictured above is an example of a London roof from Apropos Conservatories.
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Thursday posts are sponsored by Atelier garden studios which are sustainable, stylish, flexible, functional and future proofed

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Your paintings: sheds

Your Paintings is a website which is putting up the entire UK national collection of oil paintings, details about them, and where to see them in the flesh in museums and other public places around the country. It is also fully searchable and brings up some interesting selections for the term "shed" (click the link to see them all). The project aims to catalogue all 200,000 paintings by the end of 2012. Above is The Brickmaker's Shed by Arthur Claude Cooke, c.1909, oil on canvas, 49.5 x 67cm.
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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Shed on stilts

Spotted by Lloyd Alter on Modern Mechanix (where the text is more readable), "the chamber makes an ideal place for reading or studying".
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Monday, July 18, 2011

Micro-Bevelling a shepherd's hut (video)


A fascinating behind the scenes look into a key part of making a shepherd's hut from specialists Plankbridge.
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Sunday, July 17, 2011

Arthur Conan Doyle: shedworker

The author of the Sherlock Holmes and Professor Challenger stories lived for a time in Crowborough, East Sussex, in a house called Windlesham where he wrote in the wooden summerhouse which he had built in the gardens and which he called his 'hut'. It was here that he wrote some of the later Holmes stories (although he told his chauffeur Bill Latter that he preferred writing in the first floor study of the house). Conan Doyle died in 1930 and was buried in the garden, very close to the summerhouse, before his remains were removed 10 years later to Minstead churchyard in Hampshire when Windlesham became a care home. The summerhouse is sadly no longer with us.
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Friday, July 15, 2011

Indoor shedworking: Brigitte


Brigitte is a shedlike atmosphere by Enrique Illanez Schoenenberger made out of small wooden tiles which are sewn together then draped over a metal frame, inspired by a traditional (though disappearing) roof-building technique from Switzerland. Inside is a bench which helps to keep it stable. Initially it was built to be used outdoors - Enrique estimates the structure is good for 20 years of outdoor use and specifically describes it as a 'garden shed' - but now believes it serves a better purpose inside. Here's what he says: "Clearly present in this project is the notion of time. Everything is getting faster nowadays – why is that? Do we want or need things to go quickly? Brigitte invites people to take the time to rest. The second aspect of time can be found in the wooden tiles."
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Fridays posts are sponsored by Swift Foundations. We design bespoke, eco friendly, foundation solutions. Our Plinths are LABC system approved and manufactured to British Standard BS8110 by a ISO 9000 company. www.swiftfoundations.co.uk for details.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

The Rocket hide

The Rocket hide is nestled in the wild play area of Gerddi Bro Ddyfi Gardens, a therapeutic community garden in Machynlleth, Powys. Kate Doubleday, Garden Volunteer Co-ordinator (whose songs from a hide project is now underway), explains:
"The Rocket Hide was a project funded by the Big Lottery Community Wildlife Fund and Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations Can Do Communities to create an adventure play area for young children that would double up as a hide for our older users. It was inspired by a three year old boy, called Billy, from Machynlleth Community Nursery. We first ran a few design fun workshops with the Nursery and myself and Scott Roe then worked with carpenter Max Jenkins with consultancy from Julian Russell. Max brought his very own unique carpentry style during 10 days and working with volunteers using chestnut and douglas fir to create this wonderful hideaway.
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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

More sheds from Hampton Court

Further to yesterday's post about sheds and garden offices at Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, the always excellent Veg Plotting has a far more comprehensive overview of all the sheds on show which is well worth a look.
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Wednesday posts are sponsored by The Stable Company®, the UK's premier supplier of garden offices and garden rooms. Click here.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Crowdsourced shedworking at Hampton Court Flower Show

We asked our Twitter followers what they thought were the shedlike highlights at the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show this year and here they are. Above is a rather small yet lovely shepherd's hut-style design from Court and Hunt and below is the shed in the 5 A Day Garden from Burgon & Ball.
Thanks to all who let us know their preferences.
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Tuesday posts are sponsored by The Home Office Company, manufacturers of unique garden rooms since 1998. Now in 10 exciting new colours. Click here for more details.

Monday, July 11, 2011

The Healing Shed: shedworkers

Chiara Irvine runs The Healing Shed business from her garden office in Reading, Berkshire. From this peaceful space at the bottom of her garden, she runs group Reiki, crystal therapy and meditation workshops as well as talks in spirituality, psychic development and self development. The shed has a woodburning stove and is pleasantly situated close to a river. You can also find them on Twitter and Facebook.
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Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

International Shed of the Year

Apart from the joy of winning, there's no prize for this special category in the National Shed Week celebrations but Uncle Wilco has announced that The HammerSmith Brewery and Alehouse, Pennsylvania, owned by Christopher Bowen. Here's how he describes it:
A fully functioning micro brewery turns out 10 gallon batches of real ale from grain to glass, where there is also a mug club for 24 lucky members. Being a huge fan of British inspired ale and culture has made it an easy choice of decor for this award winning brewer. The shed features hot and cold running water, heating and air conditioning, four refrigerators, two sinks, cable television and Wi-Fi internet.
Congratulations to Christopher.
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Saturday, July 09, 2011

Docuden: Documentally's new garden office

Christian 'Documentally' Payne has now set up a special blog for his new garden office den, Docuden, which has plenty of information about how he's using solar power, rainwater harvesting, buying long range intercoms and building shelves. Well worth a regular look. Here he is musing about his shed and work in general with some atmospheric birdsong in the background.
Den building for grown ups. (mp3)

Friday, July 08, 2011

A song a day for National Shed Week


This year's winner of Shed of the Year, Songs From The Shed, has been putting on a fine online concert daily at their site, uploading a song a day to celebrate. Above is Flipron and Hanging Round The Lean To With Grandad but do check out the other songs from the rest of the week:
Song 1 Ruarri Joseph - An Orchard For An Apple
Song 2 Emily Smith - Butterflies
Song 3 Roddy Woomble - My Secret Is My Silence
Song 4 Emily Barker & Dom Coyote - The Witch of Pittanweem
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Fridays posts are sponsored by Swift Foundations. We design bespoke, eco friendly, foundation solutions. Our Plinths are LABC system approved and manufactured to British Standard BS8110 by a ISO 9000 company. www.swiftfoundations.co.uk for details.

Thursday, July 07, 2011

Malvern Newland Summerhouse

For those who only want an occasional shedworking atmosphere (the lack of insulation would probably prevent it being used during winter), here's the rather lovely Malvern Newland Summerhouse from Taylors Garden Buildings. It's a new model for 2011, 8'x6' with ground to floor glazing, glazed double doors and two fixed windows with two top opening vent windows in each side. Cladding is 12mm tongue and grooved deal, cedar or logroll. It's currently available at 20% off the normal price.
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Thursday posts are sponsored by Atelier garden studios which are sustainable, stylish, flexible, functional and future proofed

Wednesday, July 06, 2011

The Hide-Away UK Tour: songs from a hide

Look out this summer for a unique shedlike tour of UK bird hides by singer (and freelance organic gardener and environmental artist) Kate Doubleday in aid of the RSPB. The Hide-Away UK Tour also features Trevor Lines (bass/ukelele) and Dan Wilkins (guitar/kora) and will be playing to titchy audiences of between 15 and 50 inside the hides, blending their acoustic music with the sounds of nature surrounding them.
As part of the tour they will also be doing a session at this year's Shed of the Year, Songs from the Shed. Here are the tour dates

* 13 July, 7.30pm LAUNCH EVENT RSPB Ynys – Hir Reserve Ynys hir Hide, Eglysfach, Machynlleth, Powys
* 15 July, 7.00pm RSPB Loch Garten Abernethy, Nearest town: Aviemore, Highlands
* 16 July, 7.00pm RSPB Vane Farm Reserve, Gillman Hide, Kinross. Perth & Kinross
* 17 July,7.30pm RSPB Lochwinnoch Reserve The Tall Tower, Largs Road, Lochwinnoch
* 19 July, 7.00pm RSPB Ribble Discovery Centre Nearest town-Lytham, Lancashire
* 20 July, 7.00pm RSPB Frampton Marsh Boston, Lincolnshire
* 21 July, 7.00pm RSPB Titchwell Marsh, Hunstanton, Norfolk
* 22 July, 7.00pm RSPB Minsmere, Saxmundham, Suffolk
* 25 July, 7.00pm RSPB Thatcham Nature Discovery Centre Thatcham, Berkshire
* 27 July, 7.00pm RSPB Rye Meads, Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire
* 28 July, 7.00pm RSPB Rainham Marshes, Purfleet, Essex
* 4 August, 7.00pm RSPB Dee Estuary - Inner Marsh Farm off Pudlington Lane, Nr Burton Cheshire
* 6 August, 11.00 RSPB Conwy, Conwy North Wales
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Tuesday, July 05, 2011

Garden Office of the Year 2011: Mary's Meals

A very worthy runner-up in this year's Shed of the Year and clear winner in the Garden Office category, Mary’s Meals in Dalmally, Scotland is probably also the worthiest shedworking atmosphere we've featured. It was set up to establish school feeding projects in communities around the world where poverty and hunger prevent children from gaining an education: currently, Mary’s Meals provides daily meals in school for over 500,000 children in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

And it is all run from 'Calum’s shed', a Nissen hut-style building borrowed by the charity's founder Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow from his father to store blankets and medicines to be delivered where needed in Bosnia. It has two main rooms, one which is Magnus's office and the other which is used for meetings: one reason why the shed is still in use is that it enables the charity to keep its overheads low and thus spend more on helping children in need.

Mary's Meals - The Difference A Meal Makes from Mary's Meals on Vimeo.
Photos courtesy readersheds.co.uk where you can find a lot more.
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Monday, July 04, 2011

Shed of the Year 2011: Songs From The Shed


Large congratulations to Jon Earl whose Songs From The Shed is a very worthy winner of this year's Shed of the Year. We've featured Jon's shedworking music studio where bands - including US roots maestros Pokey Lafarge, above - play acoustic sessions which are then uploaded onto YouTube (as well as the official site) several times on Shedworking in the past: now more than 1,000 musicians have had their songs videoed inside what was originally a First World War billet hut including Steve Harley and a gospel choir and there's a waiting list of 100 bands eager to be part of his music revolution. More details over at Shedblog.

And to celebrate, Songs From The Shed (based in Clevedon, Somerset) is performing a song a day for National Shed Week.
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