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I love my commute: I walk 3 metres from my back door into my garden office. I've been a home worker for nearly 10 years now, as many more people are. Continued investment and enhancement of the broadband infrastructure has changed a great many things, making working from home more of a reality. It is no longer seen as "bunking", because it can be as interactive as any office ever was. Government pressure to reduce emissions from big business has seen tighter, more efficient, working practises and a huge reduction in commuter culture, fuelled by corporate tax breaks, of course.Well worth a read. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Recently a renewed interest in Geodesics uncovered an interesting design of a habitable polyhedron by a Columbian architect named Manuel Villa. I was intrigued by this design and at the same time recognised a number of features that had potential for improvement. So I decided to develop my own version of this shed with improvements to the fascia around the main front frame and also to the integration of services within the structure itself.--------------------------------------------------------------------
The main polyhedral frames are held together by a series of wedged shaped blocks which double as a support for internal conduits that can be used for drainage or power supply. The fascia is a now a continuation of the roof surface with a 30mm dowel lining the edge to facilitate folding of the roof flashing to the edge of the window frame without compromising integrity of same.
The roof has a built in gutter following the perimeter of the roof dome which I have partially covered to minimize the amount of water collected, being mainly from the dome itself.
The other reason why I decided to look at this design was one of perceived cost. In the articles in the Architectural forums; where Manuels shed first appeared; a number of comments related to the perceived high cost of building something like this. Other than the dome, which can be replaced with something cheaper; the main elements of the design are quite simple timber construction with minimal complexity in the joints. I have substituted a plywood cover to the roof in lieu of planking, though admittedly planking would certainly look better internally. The roof finish could either be felting or shingles.
I did the building work myself, with some help on the heavy lifting, and it took a while (about a year), with the slow progress mainly down to my complete lack of relevant experience. The designs were done in Sketchup, and the building is constructed with the materials typically used in commercially available garden rooms: structurally insulated panels, cedar cladding, ‘mini plinths’ footings and epdm rubber on the roof. Now the building is done I am focused on the inside and turning it into a small but useful space.--------------------------------------------------------------------