Zedbox: Studio-style living space in the garden

Pre-fab is very definitely back. Of course this is not news for shedworkers, but it looks like the impact on the UK housing market could be immense. The 'tiny home' sector is already growing rapidly in the USA, but is at the moment less spectacular in Britain.

The latest entrant to the market is Zedbox from Smart Garden Offices which describes the concept as "studio-style living space in the garden". According to their new website, the first Zedboxes will be up and running in spring next year. Here's what they say about them:

"These beautiful, comfortable and affordable homes are manufactured in our large UK factory. Each Zedbox model is a lovely, self-contained designer home which your local Dealership will assemble in just a few days."

 

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Garden office autumn bliss

Rooks soaring over windy rusty trees in Roslin Glen. Tea, biscuits, cyclamen, heater. Garden office autumn bliss #shitiamsomiddleclass pic.twitter.com/g1pzWlNMJs

— Catherine Gillies (@caegillies) October 27, 2016

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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.

David Mitchell: Shedworker

David Mitchell, bestselling author of Cloud Atlas, The Bone Clocks and most recently Slade House, is a shedworker. "I am happiest in my hut in County Cork, with a pot of green tea and a large, uncluttered table," he told the Paris Review.

There are no pictures of his garden office and very few details but according to the Daily Telegraph it is triple-insulated and he has painted the walls orange and the ceiling blue. John Walsh in the Independent addes a few more details in an interview:

We go outside to talk in his shed, where he writes. I'd been expecting a sizeable barn as befits such an oceanically ambitious writer, its walls covered in plot blueprints and maps, sheets full of time-scales, arrowhead diagrams, maybe a blackboard with different-coloured chalks. But this is the smallest shed in the world, an austere little hut with a table and chair, a radio and, mystifyingly, no books. It's hard to square this featureless bonsai shack with the massive imagination that bangs and crashes around inside it.

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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

Art studio shed with sliding walls: video

A thing of beauty by Caspar Schols, as revealed on the always excellent dezeen (where you can see lots more photos by Jorrit 't Hoen), built for his mother as an art studio and recreation space for her grandchildren. Made from Douglas fir, but with a glass shell it has a clever lifting bed contraption and a central fireplace.

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Garden office in a forest

A lovely back to nature positioning for this Booth's Garden Studios garden office belonging to Rosie White. Interestingly, she reports that it is fully automated in terms of security, lighting, heating and power as her company actually supplies hard wired and wireless solutions. "We are increasingly asked by clients whether we can supply automation to external work buildings/outbuildings," she told Iain at Booths.

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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.

The Lumber Loft

The Lumber Loft comes from Mark Burton's Tiny House UK and was on display at the latest The Glamping Show. "After last year's show," said Mark, "I noticed lots of visitors mentioning that they had a glamping site or farm with lovely views over hills, field, lakes, streams or the good old British countryside. This is why we built this one off design with my usual lofted bed area but with large windows to soak up the view."

Nicknamed The Lumber Loft, it is 16ft long and built on a 2.7 ton chassis. The kitchen is a free standing unit, and there is also a modern composting WC. The whole thing has hardwood flooring and is fully insulated with outer walls clad in Western Red Cedar.

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Music studio on stilts

An interesting design for a Highgate garden office in London from Trew Turner which incorporates a tree in a somewhat surprising way. The apple tree in question could have been taken down but the client and their cat enjoyed it so much that they decided to keep it. The whole building sits on oak posts and is finished with pine weatherboards. Here's what the builders say about it:

"The door was salvaged from a reclaim yard and we are really pleased we did. The unit is fully insulated and also has acoustic plaster-boarding within so that when it's used as a music studio the sound doesn't leak. The flat roof includes two roof-lights making it pleasant inside. The deck outside provides a decent place to sit in the summer months."

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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