Armadilla

The Armadilla is a garden office designed by Archie Hunter and his son Ross which they say combines traditional boat building techniques with state-of-the-art modern methods of construction: all timber is sourced from sustainably managed forests in the Scottish Borders, steamed and then shaped in special moulds to create the eyecatching Armadilla look (which reminds us slightly of the Archipod). "The use of timber helps to sequester the CO2 naturally present in the wood and helps makes a reduction in the output of greenhouse gasses," they add.

The whole thing is built on a steel base which can be lifted by forklift, crane or helicopter and sited on level ground, gravel base, bark or even on the beach should you so want. Some more details:

A breathable waterproof membrane is attached internally and then 50mm of Thermafleece sheeps wool insulation from British flocks is fixed in place before the internal lining is installed. Externally, the timber is coated with Osmo, a natural oil wood treatment. Units can be fitted out with a 240 volt system (with underfloor heating if required) or have a 12 volt system powered by PV cells for off grid situations.

There are various sizes of Armadilla all of which would be useful for shedworking or co-shedworking and indeed they have built more than 150 Armadillas. You can see lots more photos, interior, exterior and of the construction process at their Flickr site here.

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Reptile house/garden office

We've seen some interesting combinations on Shedworking over the years but this is definitely a first, a reptile house belonging to Alan and Geraldine McGill in Lucan Co. Dublin divided into two rooms one of which is home to 22 snakes and the other side is a garden office. The whole thing, designed and built by Irish Wood Style, is fully insulated and the roof is fibre cement slate with 125mm pvc gutters
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Create energy, create space, go solar with energyspace solar garden buildings. Click here for more details

Outdoor classrooms

Continuing our series looking at outdoor classrooms (aka children's shedworking atmospheres), here are two fine examples from The Stable Company. Pictured top is a Duo garden room for a village primary school in Bromesberrow, Herefordshire. It measures 5.60m wide x 3.00m deep internally, and 5.99m wide x 3.39m deep externally and features low surface temperature heaters, door finger protectors, heavy duty carpet tiles, and flame retardant pin boards. The second photo shows a Mono-Low garden room in a nursery in Crouch End, London in the back garden of a converted Victorian house. It is used both by the children and by staff and parents as a meeting room. The space measures 4.32m wide x 2.11m deep internally, and 4.71m wide x 2.50m wide externally. It was built to be under 2.5m in total height to comply with planning restrictions.
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Making it easier.

Save The Cabin campaign

Gina Barton from Tamworth has been  in touch to alert readers about the imminent closure of her beautician business. "I've been running my spray tanning business from my shed at home for 12 months," she says. "Unfortunately due to a complaint Tamworth Borough Council have given me four months to remove the shed and stop trading."

Her converted garden shed is used as a waiting and treatment room for clients. She admits that she didn't apply for planning permission and although she could apply for retrospective permission feels that she has no chance of success

A Facebook campaign called Save the Cabin has nearly 700 members and is aiming to get to 1,000 members to help persuade the council to let Gina continue to trade from her garden office. Please do consider joining up.
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Friday posts are sponsored by Extraspace, the flat-packed, man-portable expandable garden building experts. Click here for more details

Leah Beggs: shedworker

Irish abstract landscape painter Leah Beggs has recently become a shedworker in Connemara, setting up her art studio in a bespoke garden office build by Irish Wood Style. Her work forms part of various collections in Ireland including Garda HQ, Office of the Revenue Comissioners, An Bord Pleanála, Microsoft Irish Art Collection, Charleville Hotel Rathmines and The Stephens Hall Hotel Leeson Street. Leah was also commissioned by the OPW to develop ten specific pieces which currently hang in the National Concert Hall and the Department of the Taoiseach.
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The Home Office Company's free lunch

Visit the Home Office Company's showroom in  Kent to find out more about their garden offices and they'll treat you to a free lunch (up to £40) at their local  The Oak in nearby Charing. If you'd like to take a look, then phone them on 0333 800 5050 or email info@thehomeofficecompany.co.uk
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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.

iPad portrait of Howard Rheingold at work in his garden office

A lovely video by David Newman charting the progress of his portrait of online guru Howard Rheingold at work in his garden office. You can see the final portrait at David's Flickr site.
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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.