A lovely art studio from Plankbridge used by the owner who lives in the south of France. Double doors on the side. "It is a beautiful hut and is a lovely example of how our smaller shepherd's hut model can add just the perfect amount of extra space to your home," says Plankbridge's Richard Lee.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A new study by psychologists at the University of Durham has found the answers to creating the best first impression in a virtual meeting, such as Teams or Zoom, is a visual background of house plants and books.
In this latest research - Virtual first impressions: Zoom backgrounds affect judgements of trust and competence - Associate Professor Paddy Ross and colleagues from the Department of Psychology, investigated what is really contributing to best, and worst, first impressions in a virtual environment.
The study assessed the views of more than 160 individuals, who were asked to evaluate a selection of images of people against a variety of virtual backgrounds and with a mix of neutral and happy facial expressions. The research found a background of books and/or plants significantly contributed towards creating a trusting and competent first impression.
On the other hand, comedic or living room backgrounds consistently scored the lowest.
The study also discovered that gender is having an impact, with women consistently appearing more trustworthy and competent than men regardless of the kind of virtual background. Additionally, a smiley, happy demeanour was found to be an extra ingredient that can help towards creating a trusting and competent impression.
Image courtesy Oeco Garden Rooms
-------------------------------------------------------
A useful infographic from housing market analysts Dataloft which shows that while electric car charging points and solar panels are usually fine investments, if you're looking to add value to your property then a garden office or garage conversion looks like a better bet than a kitchen upgrade or loft conversion.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some interesting thoughts about what the ideal garden office might look like in the near future at Tiger Sheds. They point out that Workspace research suggests around 50 sq ft for desk space and another 50 sq for personal space (e.g. breakout space, meeting zone, kitchen, etc) should be the goal, though that seems quite a lot to us. But it's an interesting piece (click top link to jump there), looking at elements such as standing desks, living walls, solar power, and security. Well worth a read.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An extensive shedworking setup in Bath for artists Ingrid Johannesson (ceramics) and James Hourigan (stone carving) who run Colebrooke Stone and Clay from these garden buildings built by Garden Affairs. The couple relocated from London where they were working together in a 3m x 2m summerhouse in their garden. Now they have a rather more expansive 5m x 2.5m log cabin and a 4m x 3m log cabin, connected by a 3m x 2.5m solid back roof covering with an open, under-cover space for a kiln and stone
carving workbench, plus a living sedum roof.
The couple say the main benefits of the garden studio are: "The joy of being able to work in a space that is separate from our home, being able to leave unfinished work safe and sound, and the great tranquillity in our garden room - it’s a pleasure going there to create and relax each day."
Donations are being sought to ensure the survival of the cedar-shingled writing shed built and worked in by Arthur Miller from the late 1950s onwards. Originally sited on his Roxbury home in Connecticut, the 22ft x 14ft garden office studio is where he wrote the screenplay for The Crucible and stage plays including After the Fall. It was moved some years ago and sadly is currently in a parking lot awaiting a long term future, entirely inaccessible to the public.
Miller's daughter Rebecca is hoping to raise funds to enable it to be donated to the town of Roxbury and a gofundme project page has now been set up in the hopes of reaching the $1m mark - the money will go to restoring and relocate it (to the Minor Memorial Library in town, roughly $200,000) with all its original furnishings such as his desk, typewriter and chairs, as well as keep it in good shape in the future (roughly $800,000) since it's beginning to show its age and provide a location where workshops and other literary events can be held.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
A tremendous view from this 6m x 4m garden office from Oeco Garden Rooms in Aberdeen.
-------------------------------------------------------
A new study 'Climate mitigation potentials of teleworking are sensitive to changes in lifestyle and workplace rather than ICT usage' suggests that "switching from working onsite to working from home can reduce up to 58% of work’s carbon footprint".
Research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that working from home just one day a week has a negligible effect but that hybrid workers with two to four workdays at home can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 11 to 29%. The study focused on employees in the US including Microsoft’s employee data on commuting and 'teleworking' but are likely to be applicable to the UK and elsewhere.
IT and communications technology was shown to make little difference to people’s work carbon footprints, while reduced office energy use and the absence of a daily commute equated to reduced emissions (not to mention lower vehicle congestion helping to improve fuel economy).
In conclusion, the researchers said: “While remote work shows potential in reducing carbon footprint, careful consideration of commuting patterns, building energy consumption, vehicle ownership, and non-commute-related travel is essential to fully realise its environmental benefits.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you like the shepherd's hut aesthetic but don't actually want a shepherd's hut, here's something that may appeal, the Curved Office from Warwick Buildings. Features include UPVC French double doors, two side screen windows, Western Red Cedar cladding, laminate floor, Rockwoll or PIR insulation, plus internal spotlights (and exterior ones in an hoverhang).
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of our favourite recent builds, the Bothy from Plankbridge for the Royal Horticultural Society.
Great to see the @The_RHS Bothy at @RHSWisley today, as we begin to set it up with interpretation boards and access for visitors. It’s in a great spot beyond the World food garden and near the orchard and vineyard, and sitting in a wildflower area. pic.twitter.com/tPov3OibqH
— Richard Lee (@Plankbridge) September 13, 2023
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
French painter Claude Monet had numerous garden studios, including an absolute whopper that he built at Giverny for his waterlily work which he later felt was rather unsightly. By some distance the most charming was his floating studio boat.
Bought in 1872 following a successful sale of his work, Monet used the pale green boat fishing boat during the years he lived in Argenteuil, a few miles north west of Paris. He had a partly-enclosed wooden cabin built on it and the boat gave him access to vantage points unavailable form land. It was fully equipped with necessary supplies so he could spent the day painting on the water, whether on the move or anchored, though these were short trips rather than major excursions. The Regatta (Régates à Argenteuil, 1872), one of his most famous works and now in the Musee D’Orsay, was painted from this studio boat.
Monet also included the boat in a number of his paintings, either drifting down the Seine or moored. His The Studio Boat (1876, pictured above) provides a view of it on the river from the back, looking a little like a small shepherd’s hut on top of a rowing boat, its twin back doors opened, a blurred figure sitting quietly inside either Monet himself or perhaps his wife Camille reading.
-------------------------------------------------------
An open letter from Uncle Wilco which has just dropped into my invoice which may well be of interest to readers:
So 2024 is the 18th year since I came up with this idea of Shed of the year #shedoftheyear - it's been a weird creation that has taken on a world of itself, brought a lot of joy not only to myself (and given me some sort of career out of a hobby of liking sheds) but I hope it's brought a bit of fun to hundreds of sheddies around the world who have created some of the best spaces out there.
I first registered the domain name readersheds.co.uk on 03-Jul-2000 (that will be 24 years next year, which is even madder, and I built a shed sharing website soon after.) But it was not until 2007 I decided to run a competition as I thought the British shed should be celebrated.
I would love to have a party. Maybe sometime around July 2024. So I will get my thinking cap on...... and if you have any ideas let me know.... and maybe someone with a massive shed could host it and hopefully the sheddies, old and new, could meet up.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An excellent way to bag a garden office bargain can be to invest in an ex-display model. They don't crop up that often so you need to keep an eye on garden office suppliers' websites or sign up for their newsletters (Booths and SMART are among those who have alerts). The examples pictured above come from Malvern Garden Offices' latest offerings - as they say "Now one of these stunning garden buildings can have pride of place in your garden for an amazing ex-display price!"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The latest issue of the Idler is out with my usual column on garden offices and other microbuildings, which this time round focuses on the shedlike seaside shelters around the country. Not just delightful places to hide from the British summer weather, they have also provided third place shedlike working environments as this excerpt explains:
Their appeal has always been wide. King Edward VII and his wife Queen Alexandra spent time on Brighton’s seafront in its shelters, and various examples elsewhere around the country including in Skegness and Margate are similarly now Grade II listed. The Margate shelter’s listing followed a campaign supported by the likes of Andrew Motion and Alan Bennett to memorialise the spot where TS Eliot, recuperating from a breakdown, wrote part of ‘The Waste Land’ (“On Margate Sands./I can connect/Nothing with nothing./The broken fingernails of dirty hands./My people humble people who expect/Nothing.”)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rather than get one huge garden office, it can sometimes work out better to get two smaller ones in terms of space and aesthetic appeal. Here's an example of his and hers buildings from Garden Affairs - they're not quite the same size although along similar lines and in the same colour. This one below is a 3.5m x 2.5m Linea model.
And here's the second, a 2.75m x 2.2m Linea.
-------------------------------------------------------
Congratlations to Berkhamsted-based architects Hyperspace for their shortlisting in the annual Wood Awards for their remarkable garage-to-garden office rebuild Dark Matter (profiled back in January this year on Shedworking). Details at the previous post, but features include:
- 850 scales of charred timber on the studio’s façade, with natural habitats for insects in the gaps between them
- a very wide pivoting entrance door
- a self-supporting roof with exposed timber rafters and poplar plywood interior
- two CNC-cut ‘light chimneys
*************************************************
Research by Broadband Genie shows some interesting figures about how we now hybrid work and also how 'third place' working in coffee shops stacks up against working from home in garden offices and other domestic locations.
According to their figures, one in four people work from a coffee shop at least once a week (Costa is the clear favourite, followed by Starbucks, and Caffè Nero in third place). The most common reasons people give is to be
around other people (34%) and that it improves productivity (27%). One in seven say they simply prefer the atmosphere to their office and a similar number that they do so to save money on their energy bill.
But Broadband Genie estimates that the
average person spends over £700 a year in coffee shops or, as they also point out, roughly double the typical annual
broadband bill...
Alex Tofts, broadband expert at Broadband Genie, said: “Our research shows that many hybrid workers are also now adding their favourite coffee shop into the mix. The change of scenery can be particularly tempting if you’re not a fan of your home set-up, or frustrated by misfiring Wi-Fi. Yet, with the average latte setting you back £3.25, the cost of days in a coffee shop can quickly add up. For those looking to save money, there are many ways to improve your broadband connection that are far cheaper than buying a brew.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another one for the shedworker's bookshelf, the newly published Beach Hut People by writer and researcher Nancy Stevenson (published by Publishing Household and available from The Nose). Although it concentrates on owners and their huts around the Frinton and Walton areas of the Essex coastline, it will appeal to anybody who enjoys microarchitecture. Here's what the publishers say:
Nancy Stevenson captures a unique slice of seaside culture by taking us on a journey in which we discover more about the people who inhabit these ‘sheds by the sea’. Beach Hut People takes us beyond the hut exteriors and uncovers the way of the beach hut community. Exploring traditions, changes, challenges and personal expression and style, Nancy shares her reflections on beach hut culture in this thoughtful and eloquent book. Based on conversations with 60 people who own or regularly visit beach huts, it is a collection of shared stories: experiences, routines, of things that people collect and display in their huts, and the way they choose to style them.
And here's what the excellent writer Travis Elborough makes of it:
A charming snapshot of a slice of the British seaside, the humble beach hut, their occupants, and a tiny corner of Essex serving here as a brilliant microcosm for a larger story about our island nation's idiosyncrasies.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This lovely new garden office designed by Nic Howett Architects is part of his awardwinning The Secret Garden Flat entry for New London Architecture's annual Don't Move, Improve! competition, scooping this year's Home of the Year trophy.
Built by Howett for his own family use to make the most of a property in an area with rocketing prices, it was all done on a limited budget, was self-build, and features a sedum roof. The garden studio was built first as a dry run for a planned bedroom extension. The short video about it below is well worth a watch.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
