I built this shed to provide a creative space and workshop in what was once an overgrown part of a small garden in London. It has been designed to make the most of the space available without being over bearing. Everything except the door has been handmade. The main features are the curved walls (for added challenge...), the sedum and wildflower roof (to encourage sustainability...) and the coloured stained glass windows (just for fun...). At the moment the bit I like best is the oil-stained stripwood cladding which up close is a rainbow of different colours.
When i started this project I thought it was about the end result - the shed. Now I see it has been the earlier steps that are just as important. I've loved the creative, problem solving processes at the start, lying awake at night as the mind wanders over different solutions. I've loved the exercise of the build and the easy opportunity it has given to meet neighbours and other lovely characters in the area just by being outside. It has given me more than ample material to bore my friends in the pub and over dinner, and some of those same friends have helped out and we've had some great days bonding over the smell of sawn timber and minor injuries - in particular, grafting- thanks is made to John, Ivor, Weez, Sam-P, Liz and Hills. Whilst I'm at it, advice-thanks made to Eban, and patience-in-regard-to-6-months-of- banging-thanks is made to my neighbours. Everybody should build their own shed at least once in their lifetime. Specification Size - 2.5m (H) x 3.1m (W) x 2.4m (D) Walls - Insulated timber stud frame (50mm x 75mm), EDPM waterproof membrane, stripwood open cladding on baton. Curved sections are made from sets plywood ribs, each made of 13 glued layers of 5mm x 50mm plywood strip. Roof - Insulated timber joists (50mm x 125mm), 18mm plywood sheet, EDPM membrane, sedum greenroof system with added wildflower funk Floor - Insulated suspended timber joists, reclaimed scaffold board for the flooring, sanded and finished. Windows = 16, handbuilt in three different sizes, one of which mildly curved to fit in the curved sections of wall. Stained, coloured glass, scaffold board timber frame Door - second hand