Studio D: Temporary Habitat

We're keeping the shedlike emergency shelter theme going every day this week (for previous entries on this theme click here), starting with Temporary Habitat, a conceptual design from Studio D. Here's what they say:

"Whether by war or natural disaster, when thousands of homeless people need reliable, cheap, portable shelter, temporary emergency structures may provide simple, easily assembled and biodegradable solutions. In addition to putting a roof over a person's head, this emergency shelter provides storage for some personal belongings, some privacy, and a clearly delineated sense of personal place for each user."

Emergency Response Studio

Artist Paul Villinski's Emergency Response Studio is a mobile, solar-powered artist's studio built using an old trailer and aiming to highlight the possibilities of off-grid living and shedworking as well as provide artists with something useable in post-disaster settings. The mobile office is entirely powered by a 1.6 kilowatt photo-voltaic solar system and nine large solar panels. It also has a large wall which turns into a deck plus a large geodesic skylight in the workspace. There are lots more green elements e.g. recycled denim insulation (lots more details on the site). The Emergency Response Studio will be on display until January 18 across New Orleans.Via Treehugger

Reaction Housing: emergency shedworking

We've covered various emergency shelters on Shedworking over the past couple of years and here's the latest intriguing shedlike atmsophere, the Reaction Housing System. The kit can be put up super quickly (there's a neat little timer on the web site indicating just how quickly) which the makers claim "offers an unparalleled, rapid response housing solution whether it is responding to the aftermath of an earthquake, wildfire, hurricane or man made event". The basic unit is large enough for a family of four to live and sleep in temporarily and requires no expertise to set up:

"An Exo shelter unit is transported in two pieces – a base (floor) and an upper shell (walls and roof). At a deployment site, the bases are unloaded first and placed where the completed Exos are to be located. Workers then lower the upper shells down onto the bases until they lock into place. A small team of 4 people can easily move and assemble a single Exo shelter unit in well under two minutes with no tools or machinery needed."

Via inhabitat
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Metaplate

Continuing our week looking at emergency shelters on the Sheds for Everyone theme (see Monday's post for more details), here is Metaplate from Yong Sze Yuen Kelvin, a modular emergency shelter design which is expandable and can incorporate piping and drainage.

Home office fire extinguishers

A friend asked me last week what kind of fire extinguisher I had in my garden office/shed. When I said I didn't have one, he pointed out that since it was built of wood, was full of books, paper and often rather hot electrical equipment, and was next to a wooden fence leading directly to my house, perhaps I should invest in one before bonfire night next year.

There's a real dearth of information about fires and home offices so I've culled the following from various sources, but it goes without saying that you should contact your local fire station for expert advice before buying anything.

Extinguishers are rated as A, B, and C and if you put out a fire on your desk with the wrong one, you could destroy your computer. So what most of us are looking for is a Type C: this one contains halon (or sometimes some other kind of dry chemical) which is non-corrosive so won't destroy your laptop, although the bad news is that it's not great for the ozone layer and can be toxic so be carefuly if you use it in a confined space. Also, big is not necessarily best. Extinguishers are heavy brutes and a smaller one might be easier for you to use in an emergency.

Pictured is an example, a Kidde Home/Office Fire Extinguisher FA460 which should do the job nicely, though it is quite big. For more information you could also try AGF Fire Protection Ltd.

Writing shed postcard Ukraine fundraiser

Large congratulations to Dinah from the Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society who has successfully completed her postcard fundraiser for the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine Appeal (we each sent her a fiver, she sent us a nice postcard of her writing shed - mine is pictured above - and she donated the proceeds to the appeal).

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Shedworkers and other homeworkers must be protected like any other employee says the HSE

Although more than a third of workers in Britain now work remotely or in hybrid arrangements, not all employers realise health and safety responsibilities apply equally at home as in the workplace according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Britain’s national workplace regulator is running a campaign to remind employers of the need to assess the risks for all home workers.  

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that in January 2026, 38% of workers were working remotely or in some kind of hybrid arrangement (25% hybrid and 13% fully remotely).  

HSE is advising employers to pay particular attention to three areas - stress and mental health, the safe use of display screen equipment, and the working environment – including accidents, emergencies, and lone working. This is a legal duty, not optional guidance.  

“Working from home can deliver benefits to both employers and employees," said Barbara Hockey, from HSE Engagement and Policy Division, "but it’s important that employers understand their responsibilities.  

“The good news for bosses is you don’t need to physically visit someone’s home to fulfil your duties. Most of the time, the risks are low and the steps to manage them are straightforward and HSE provides free guidance to support you. Practically, this means managers keeping in regular contact with their teams, talking openly about workloads and training needs, and making sure people aren’t under pressure to work outside their normal working hours. 

“It also means having simple conversations about the physical environment by asking staff to visually check that their equipment is safe and not damaged, keeping work areas clear of trailing wires or obstructions, and making sure everyone knows what to do in an emergency."

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Around the Shedworld

Trendhunter shows that Kent public lavatories can be great shedlike atmospheres... The Coolhunter profiles Diane von Fürstenberg Studio’s new headquarters with its shedlike glass sphere on the roof (pictured above)... WebUrbanist catalogues various houseboats which would be great places for a little light shedworking... Treehugger's Wayback Machine landed near an inflatable tea house (pictured below)...Yanko Design takes a look at another emergency response unit... Modern Residential Design highlights Melling:Morse's seaside loft style living in Kennedy Bay, New Zealand... materialicious likes the green roof workshop and garage by Harrison Architects... Shedblog carries a nice interview with shed champion, fellow Shed of the Year judge and inventor Trevor Baylis... Polly LaBarre from Mavericks at Work has some very interesting things to say about working environements...

Coronavirus pods

Although we've covered shedlike structures as emergency shelters on Shedworking before, we've not done so recently and now seems as good a time as any to take a fresh look at what's out there. Above are special pods produced by Chinese firm Winsun 3D in which people can self-isolate in China, with an emphasis on hospital workers. They are 3D printed and need no foundations so can easily be moved or taken apart and re-assembled elsewhere. They all contain composting toilets, a bed, and a shower.
   

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Tom Uglow: shedworker

Tom Uglow is a creative director for Google and YouTube in Europe, running a 30-person creative studio. And those of you who watched the BBC's Culture Show this week will also have noticed he is a shedworker as he talked about interesting sites on the interwebs from the comfort of his own shed. Indeed, on his Google profile he lists the things he can do in an emergency as:
 // draw a picture // bake a veggie lasagne // cycle somewhere // build a php model // draw vague parallels // concoct similies // disapear to the shed 
Thanks to The Garden Monkey for the alert
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Wind blows shed into trees

High winds sent a shed flying into a tree in Syosset. Nassau County Police units responded to South Oyster Bay Road after reports that high winds had lifted a shed from an Underhill Avenue yard into a tree. The shed was hanging over South Oyster Bay Road. Nassau County Police Emergency Service Officers were called and secured the scene. No injuries were reported in the incident.

Syosset Patch. Photo: Kevin Imm ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Love Your Hut: New beach hut column

This is the first in a monthly series of guest posts about beach huts and hutlife from Matt Briggs at specialist hut insurers Love Your Hut

The Love Your Hut team lives and breathes beach huts (and chalets) every day. From new business and renewing happy hutters to speaking with existing and new Beach Hut Associations, it’s just what we love doing. As a team we have insured huts for 16 years and combined, have nearly 50 years’ experience in this niche and wonderful market.

Love Your Hut was born in February 2013.  Roll on 3½ years and we are still loving it. From the very beginning we wanted to offer a product and service that was befitting of all the different huts up and down the UK.  While they are all beach huts, they are also all so very different in shape, style, size, location and construction.  Our policy covers all these bespoke elements and that’s the way it should be – an individual policy for an individual hut.

We appreciate where they are – generally on a pomenade or a beach – so there’s no silly underwriting questions such as “Is your hut prone to flooding?”   and we also make it very easy for your policy to be bought online or via the team by phone, whichever suits the hutter best. We have always believed that our policy is market leading – no fees, no average applied to claims settlement, £nil excess, £5m public liability cover all as standard. But having reviewed our policy we are now offering even more cover, for the same price and still with no fee.  Having listened to our hutters, we now include loss of key cover up to £100, emergency travel up to £100, and alternative facilities cover up to £250.00.

We are very proud of our Gold Status with our service provider Feefo.  We currently stand at 100% Service Rating & a 99% Product Rating - these figures have come direct from our hutters.

We deal with huts from Scotland, down to the Isle of Wight, with lots in the middle. Most of them tend to be of wood construction, but some are brick, some are concrete and some of the newer huts are now being made of composite materials which are more resistant to our coastal weather.

As a business we also deal with a number of Beach Hut Associations and happily attend their AGMs, Fun Days, and other events as we feel this is a great way of getting to know the beach hut communities and how they work. If you have a beach hut and don’t belong to a Beach Hut Association, please let us know if you’d like to set one up – we will happily help you.

If you are interested in beach huts and would like a quote from us, please visit our website on www.loveyourhut.co.uk or call us on 01924 580 990.  Please also visit our website to enter our competition to find the Love Your Hut of the Year. --------------------------------------------------------

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How shedworking on the moon might look

This is how the first sheds on the moon might look, according to my favourite press agency AFP. These eco-friendly potential garden offices are very, very cheap and are the brainchild of Iranian architect Nader Khalili who runs the California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture (CalEarth). AFP report that: "Khalili's work has been recognized by the United Nations and he is regularly invited to give presentations to NASA about the possibilities of his designs being used for lunar colonies." The building process is pleasantly easy: dig up soil (lunar, if preferred), put it in sacks, stick them together in arch formations, kiln fire the interior, and seal with terracotta. The designs have already been used in countries hit by earthquakes for emergency shelters.

In Detail: Small Structures

An interesting title from Birkhauser, In Detail by Christian Schittich (176 Pages, 276 colour, 260 b/w illustrations) though at £63 maybe a little steep. Here's the bumph:

Shelters, kiosks, snack bars, market stalls, bus stops, telephone booths, toilets, advertising columns, ticket booths, mobile tents or housing units, emergency shelters, tourist information booths—this list of small, autonomously functioning buildings could be expanded almost infinitely. Small buildings shape our daily lives; they are found at the nearest street corner; they are present and indispensable, but as architecture they attract our attention only rarely. Yet these small structures occupy a definite place in the infrastructure of the city. Rather than focusing on the large attractions of architecture, architects find many potential ways to ensure the quality of everyday design hidden in these small, sometimes charming necessities. This volume in the DETAIL series spans the arc between architecture and product design, since not infrequently small buildings are located precisely in the area of tension between these two professions, and their successful realization is evident in the details of their construction.

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Writing Shed postcard fundraiser for Ukraine

Dinah Johnson who runs the marvellous Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society from her writing shed garden office has organised a postcard fundraiser for the Disasters Emergency Committee Ukraine Appeal.

It's a simple idea. You donate £5 and Dinah sends you - wherever you live in the world - a lovely postcard of her Letter Writing Shed written by her, the founder. All proceeds (after postage) go to the appeal to help the people of Ukraine. You can pay at her site by PayPal by clicking here or if you live in the UK you can also send a cheque made payable to “The Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society” to PO Box 9347, Swanage, Dorset, BH19 9BG.

"Thank you so much for considering sponsoring a postcard," says Dinah. "Writing postcards is one thing I know I can do."

We've done it here at Shedworking HQ and we hope you will consider doing so too. 

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House Arc (video)

A modular bike parking system is the inspiration for this remarkable shedlike atmosphere from Bellomo Architects. The flatpack House Arc is built around a series of bent steel tubes, measures 8’ x 12’ and claims to be entirely off-gridable and designed for emergency housing in disaster areas as well as compact work and live space. On the outside, there is polycarbonate sheeting and wood cladding as well as various ecofriendly elements such as rooftop solar power options and a rainwater harvesting system. Architect Joseph Bellomo said: “We designed it to be a kit of parts house that can be assembled quickly–like prefab furniture.” And here's one being built below. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Shed Space: The role of the shed in the creative arts industry

Shed Space is a new exhibition running at the Old Fire Station in Oxford which "celebrates the role of the humble garden shed in the creative industries, past and present". It features a full-size shed in the gallery with green roof, while inside the shed there is a scale model showing an urban garden and shed scene, put together by art and architecture students from Oxford Brookes University. Among them is a ‘Sweetie Shed’ designed by architecture student Katie Reilly who describes it as “An edible escape for children in a yummy playhouse at the bottom of the garden where imagination runs wild and friendships blossom.” 

Co-organiser Jeni Burnell, who is also a researcher at Oxford Brookes’ Centre for Development and Emergency Practice (CENDEP) said: “The humble garden shed has always featured as a backdrop in the creative industries being used by music composers and authors through to engineers and industrial designer Recently the shed has undergone somewhat of a revival with people setting up home offices and creative escapes at the bottom of their garden. This exhibition celebrates that creativity and captures the enjoyment around such endeavours.” There are ongoing details at the exhibition blog. 

During the exhibition, various 'makers in residence' are transforming the shed into a ‘making space’ for workshops including DaisyWebb next Friday and Saturday who will produce a series of illustrations which consider the identity of sheds as both domestic and natural (Click here for her workshop), furniture makers Jan Waterston, Sam Bolt and Freya Whamond in June who will be providing an insight into the workshop of a designer maker (Click here for their workshop)
and in July basketmaker Sherry Doyal will work on a collection inspired by Charles Darwin’s orchid research (Click here for her workshop).

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Soham's 'flying shed' - be careful out there

We've talked before about when sheds go bad in windy weather and here's another example from the Ely Standard who published a set of photos by engineer Vassilis Papanikolaou who was driving out of Soham towards Newmarket on his way to work (sadly, he's not a shedworker) when a large shed was blown onto the road in front of him, forcing him to undertake an emergency breaking procedure.
Thanks to Chris Lindley for the alert. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Floating shedworking marinas

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.

A Place of Meadows and Tall Trees

Clare Dudman, awardwinning writer and friend of Shedworking, has a new novel out - A Place of Meadows and Tall Trees - which features the shedworkingesque Welsh structure, the Ty Unnos. She writes for shedworking about its importance in the book which centres on the Welsh colonisation of Patagonia:

The Ty Unnos is famous in Welsh folklore. One of my ancestors was born in one. They were hastily-assembled, somewhat squalid places. The parts were often prefabricated and hidden around the village in readiness for rapid assembly. Although called a house (Ty means house, Unnos means one night), shed might be a more accurate term, but people were born and died in them.

It was thought that a house built overnight on common land, if it had smoke coming up through the chimney by six in the morning, then the house, and the land dictated by how far a man could throw a hammer from the front door, belonged to the builder. It is a romantic idea (although it is debatable if these shacks were ever truly legal) and one of these structures is an important feature of my book.

Enclosure acts allowed absentee English landlords to clear the land, and a house thrown up overnight could just as easily be pulled down again by the men of an absentee landlord. The landlords were often English and the tenants were Welsh. The only thing these dispossessed and desperately poor evicted tenants could do was to migrate: sometimes to the nearest big city, or sometimes, if they were brave, foolish or idealistic enough, to the ends of the world: Patagonia. And this is exactly what the characters in my novel did.

There, they found themselves in the windswept desert with little shelter. The only materials available to them was the wood used to make their bunks on ship, so they transported it ashore and built another Ty Unnos. Luckily, it turned out that in Patagonia, this emergency shed didn't have to last a life-time.

You can buy the book here and find out more about it at the micro-site here.


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