David Green: New Shedworking HQ entry

David Green is the latest entrant in the competition to design the new Shedworking HQ. "You would need planning permission for this," he points out, "but hey - its a fantasy! The glass would need to be safety/toughened, with coatings to stop overheating in summer and to keep heat in in winter. The floor is wood with insulation, and I threw in something to keep you warm! You may need to get rid of the cider press though - it just wouldn't look right!"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Is shedworking the secret to a long life?

In this week's column from Enterprise Nation's Emma Jones, she says many studies are carried out on the number of people starting businesses and the success of those ventures but few researchers have investigated whether business is the secret to a long and healthy life. Is there a connection?

Celebrating a centenary
It was two recent insertions in the Obituaries column that got me thinking about this idea of business leading to a long life. The insertions marked the passing away of two great businessmen; Daniel Carasso, founder of Danone, the world's leading yoghurt maker, and Wall Street veteran Albert Hamilton Gordon who rebuilt investment banking firm Kidder Peabody after the crash. Mr Carsso was 103. Al Hamilton Gordon was 107.

What I’m suggesting is that their business was very much responsible for keeping them going until a ripe old age. It gave a reason to get up each morning, with both men still very much involved in the running of the business until literally the day they died. Saying that, when questioned at the age of 103, Al Hamilton Gordon said: “My longevity I attribute to, number one, excessive exercise!”

The feature reports: ‘On business trips to Los Angeles, he would carry his own bags -- from the airport to downtown, walking all 18 miles. At 82, he ran the London Marathon -- and finished in a little more than six hours.’

The young kid on the block
Looking almost youthful in comparison, and still very much alive, Gerald Ronson was recently profiled and praised for his stamina and ongoing business success: “The 70 year old has no plans to moderate his workload, which still consists of six and a half days a week, more than 12 hours a day, and with regular travel across the nine countries in his £1.5bn development programme’

In his own words, Ronson said:“I have more energy at 70 than two 35 year olds. I have no intention of slowing down or retiring. I don’t do what I do for the money. I do it because I enjoy it.”

And I guess, at the end of the day, this is the crux. It’s doing something you enjoy that gives the energy to stay alive. That, plus a little exercise on the side!

Emma Jones is Founder of Enterprise Nation and author of ‘Spare Room Start Up – how to start a business from home’
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Last voting day for Shed of the Year today

Today is the last day to vote for Shed of the Year 2009. Nip along smartish to the voting booth.

Absolutely prefabulous

A nice piece by Robin Barton in The Independent on Sunday looks at the wonderful world of small prefabs. As Robin says:

"The best of these prefabs can be self-sufficient in their idyllic locations, catching sunlight and wind for energy, siphoning fresh air for ventilation and rain for watering herb gardens."

Regular readers of Shedworking will recognise the models he focuses on except maybe the steel-framed Habode, pictured above, from New Zealand designer Rod Gibson: it's easily transportable, setupable and recyclable, built to withstand extreme heat, torrential downpours and extreme winds - a fine shedworking atmosphere. Well worth a browse.

Scottish Parliament Think Pods

At the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh, every MSP's office has a 'think-pod' sticking out of the side. This is a semi-shedlike atmosphere in which they are are supposed to sit and think up good things as they contemplate Salisbury Crags. Lovely to look at, there have been some problems with them (buckets were required for a while to catch drips when it rained hard). Here's what Rosie Kane, Scottish Socialist Party MSP, told The Guardian about them:

"Miralles gave us all "contemplation chambers", or "think-pods". The idea is that you've got somewhere to go and sit and think. When I'm in mine, sitting on the window seat, it reminds me of being on a big wheel because it sticks out of the building and is suspended. Every worker should have one."

Designed by Enric Miralles, apparently they were inspired by Sir Henry Raeburn's painting of the Rev Robert Walker skating on Duddingston Loch...

Enterprise Nation TV: siestas and Thinkpods

The latest edition of ENTV is now in the shops with a piece by me on siestas and a tastetesting on alternatives to coffee following my post on the site (and on twitter) last week. Pictured above is EN's Emma Jones trying out a ThinkPod, designed by RHA, at a Regus Business Centre. Well worth a look.

Heike’s outdoor hideaway

design*sponge runs a regular 'before and after' section of projects before and, er, after. Here's a lovely one, Heike's outdoor hideaway in Sweden: Heike reused some old windows and turned them into a lovely shedlike atmosphere (though I suspect it might get a bit warm in summer that's only the little green idol of envy talking).