James Furzer’s ‘Homeless Cabin’ at Grand Designs Live

Grand Designs Live returns to Birmingham’s NEC October 10-14 and will include architect James Furzer’s design the ‘Homeless Cabin’.

Outside Hall 5 of the NEC visitors can see a prototype shell of the Homeless Cabin that James has developed as an alternative towards defensive architecture (e.g. spikes in building voids) meant to deter the homeless that is found throughout the UK. Inside Grand Designs Live, visitors can look inside one of these cabins, and find out more information about this potentially life-changing project.

According to James: ‘We require friendlier architecture to change the current perception of homelessness and provide thoughtfully designed spaces for those less fortunate. A place of warmth, security and privacy, where one can gather their thoughts and regenerate away from the public eye.  In short, a worldwide, immediate, temporary solution to rough sleeping.’

A panel of experts, including representatives from GROUNDWORK, a charity helping vulnerable and homeless people, along with property expert Kunle Barker and James Furzer discuss the ‘Rise Of The Rough Sleeper’ at the Grand Theatre on October 12.
 
 

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Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.

Building a garden office: new series of videos

Web designer and developer Jack McConnell has started what he plans to be a series of videos over the next year detailing how he is designing and building his garden office (first episode below). Here's what he says about the project:

This first video is a bit of a mish-mash of information and video clips, as I've already embarked on some of the work but wanted to include as much as possible on the background, reasoning, and thought-process behind why I want to build my garden office over buying a pre-manufactured one. I won't be going over absolutely everything in a high-level of detail (particularly when it comes to the construction of the building), but instead want to focus on the decisions and stages of how I achieve my goal over the course of a year.

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Thursday posts are sponsored by Cabin Master: garden offices and studios to fit any size garden. Top quality contemporary or traditional buildings.

Garden office shed jigsaw

You like sheds, you like cakes, you'll love The Cake Shed 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle by Ravensburger, produced on high quality cardboard. Here's what Ravensburger say about it:

This sweet little shed perfectly combines haven, hobby and workplace! We imagine that the owner of this well-organized shed started decorating cakes as a hobby … but her pastime has now developed into a small business, with plenty of commissions ready for collection. Her wonderful creations will give you plenty of puzzling challenges as you piece together those sweet-filled jars, reels of ribbon and all that delicate icing. 

Available all over the place including Hobbycraft. ------------------------------------------

Wednesday posts are sponsored by Eurodita, the leader in serving smart dealers

Knaphouse

Knaphouse is a brand new supplier which is aiming at the tiny homes market, but also nods towards the garden office one ("An office that keeps you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Turn your Knaphouse into a spacious, light filled work space, art studio or workshop," they say).

It's available in both off-grid and on-grid options and shedworkers will be most interested in a single  standalone 'Knap' module built out of modified timber . The whole thing can be placed in a day using a removable foundation system. Each Knap is a total of 55.6 sq. metre, 41.2 sq/m (with a 3.65m internal  ceiling height) plus a 14.5 sq/m mezzanine. Off grid extras include solar panels, a pellet burner, rainwater and septic tank storage built into the chassis, and a water thermal recovery system (a full rundown of their sustainability credentials is here). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning

Karl Ove Knausgaard: shedworker

Awardwinning Norwegian autobiographicalist-novelist Karl Ove Knausgård lives in the small village of Glemmingebro, Sweden, where he works in a writing studio in his back garden (picture above). He is often interviewed in his garden office by journalists which is split into two rooms full of books, chairs and a sofa, as well as his drum kit and guitars. A typical description comes from The Guardian: "With their mountains of unwashed coffee cups and other detritus, both rooms display a reassuring indifference to order. He apologises, explaining that he spent “about an hour” that morning tidying up for my visit."

The Wall Street Journal atmospherically compares it to a "post-apocalyptic college library"...

Entering his studio, I saw books everywhere—lined up in shelves, stacked on the floor, propped in piles leaning against other books—hardbacks and paperbacks, galleys and manuscripts, rising in towers from the coffee table. The room recalled a post-apocalyptic college library. Empty beer cans, Pepsi Max bottles, water glasses and coffee mugs rose amid the bookscape; and cigarette ash dusted everything, trailing in shallow rivulets between the books, bottles and crockery.... Sunlight spilled through the open door and window, and as we sat down, I heard leaves rustle in the garden and the unfamiliar caws of Swedish birds. 

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Monday posts are sponsored by garden2office, the Swedish garden office specialists. Click here for more details.

Best shed accessories

The Independent [disclaimer: I still do some work for them] runs a regular IndyBest section looking at the best things on the market for anything from cookbooks to night lights. The latest is the eight best shed accessories which is worth a quick browse. It's aimed more towards the traditional shed rather than shedworking setup but useful nonetheless. ------------------------------------

Sunday posts are sponsored by eDEN Garden Rooms. Stunning, bespoke high quality garden rooms, to suit your unique space and style

Black garden office

Black is a surprisingly popular choice among shedworkers (and professional garden designers) for their exterior garden office colour. Here's a particular nice example from Sussex-based Urban Escape Studios which is almost hidden in the corner of the clients' garden. It's one from their Astana range, 4m x 2.5m, with dark grey aluminium French doors, full length picture window, and cladding which was stained with Black Ash to blend into the greenery.
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Friday posts are sponsored by Warwick Buildings, manufacturers of outstanding quality timber buildings. Click here for more information.