The My Home Office comes from designer Cosmas Bronsgeest in the Netherlands. The smallest model of the interestingly-shaped garden office measures 2.5m x 3.2m, has an FSC-certified larch wood exterior, floor to roof glazing on two sides, and a number of options including fold-down bed, lavatory, and shower. There is also an option to rent it on a monthly basis.
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An intriguing timber build from Studio Oort for a theatre director in London. It's on the footprint of a former rundown garage. The exterior is Iroko slats and includes a cantilevered roof, while inside it's exposed plaster and white oiled oak, plus two skylights and bi-folding doors. The studio is fitted out with a wet room and timber decking. Quite rightly, it's been shortlisted for this year's annual New London Architecture 'Don't Move, Improve!' award for 2021.
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Black garden offices were all the rage a couple of years ago and while some of the heat has gone out of the 'influencers' gushing over them, they're still very popular. Here's a fine example from Ayr Cabins, a decent sized 7m x 2.8m in their Cresswell range. It's clad in matt black stained timber on the outside, with birch-faced ply on the inside. This particular build includes a kitchenette and lavatory, as well as large sliding doors.
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While people without gardens understandably say they're not really in a position to have a garden office, we've actually covered plenty of examples of shedlike working atmospheres on Shedworking over the last 15 years, including a surprising number of rooftop garden offices including the fine one pictured above from Boundary Space
at the top of a London townhouse, a kind of urban meadow (and here are some rather more spectacular examples).
So we were intrigued to hear from John-Paul Manning, managing directgor at Build4Less that their latest research into rooftop garden trends for this year puts a rooftop office in the mix, coming in at a creditable 10th spot, hard on the heels of container gardens, canopies, and decking.
"During lockdown the line between indoor and outdoor space became increasingly blurred as people tried to maximise their use of space and make it feel homey as the spring season sets in," says John-Paul. "Rooftop real estate is often a pretty hot commodity. In most cases there’s a limited amount of space and as a result most rooftop trends focus on ways to use the space as efficiently as possible. We’ve found that people are moving towards making the rooftop as open air as possible. Fences are being replaced with tall garden elements like trees and vertical gardens, and glass has begun to replace wood as paraphets in a way that gives privacy but also keeps the space fresh and open."
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A new study by insurance giant Aviva confirms that the number of shedworkers will rise over the next year as Covid-related changes to working from home begin to take hold.
The
survey reveals that one in 10 of the 1,400 people questioned already work from a garden office, converted
shed, garage or summerhouse and that this proportion will rise to 13%. Currently, it indicates that only around a third of people at the moment have a dedicated home office but that this figure will also rise, by around 10% since only one in five said they found working from home more stressful than 'normal' working routines (nearly half found it less stressful, pointing to the lack of commute, family-friendly nature of homeworking, and easier clothes decisions as key areas).
Aviva spokesman Gareth Hemming says in the report: "Flexible working and home-working practices have been around for some time, but they have really come into their own in the last year. While home-working is not the choice of every individual, we are likely to see more flexibility as a basic benchmark for the future, with many people working remotely, at least some of the time."
Elsewhere, the report also shows that around two thirds of people are keen to make career changes as a result of Covid, with 10% hoping to work from home, putting it top of the wishlist, especially among the under-25 age group.
Image courtesy Cabin Master
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This looks to be a fascinating (and free) digital lunchtime talk next Thursday (22 April, 1pm - 1.45pm). 'Don't Move, Improve! Working from Home' is part of the New London Architecture's design week programme and will focus on how homes can best be redesigned for the increased amount of working from home everybody is planning.
Among the short presentations are Hayley Robson, creative director of design studio Day True on making multi-functional spaces, Timothy Robinson from Sonn Studio on designing for small spaces (including their marvellous Terazzo Studio which is pictured above), and Hanna Zminkowska and Richard De Boise from Zminkowska De Boise Architects (whose 'Claire and Tom's' garden office we'll feature next week) on 'Considering all your options'. There'll also be a panel discussion and Q&A at 1.30pm.
Although garden office suppliers are now starting to reopen their show sites as lockdown gradually eases off, it's still always nice to have the option to have a nose around the possibilities from your home. Warwick Buildings has just produced an excellent new virtual tour, with various ways of exploring and links to more details of models of interest. It's easy to use and really quite engaging - you can also see it via this link.
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Tuesday posts are sponsored by Garden Spaces, suppliers of contemporary garden buildings, offices, gyms and studios, many of which do not require planning
