Shed of the year 2024, Sponsored by 
Our garden is quite small, so the design needed to make the most of available space and with the minimum impact. I designed it specifically to go in the back corner, where previously was a small shed hidden behind a fir tree. In order to fit it in this space we built recesses in the back wall that would allow the building go back an extra two feet inbetween the trunks of leylandii. The success of the design is that a much larger office now fits in to a previously underused space in the garden. The purpose of the office is to provide workspace for my brother to run his business - designing and printing personalised clothing. I had just finished my second year of my degree in architecture and I wanted to create a stylish, contemporary design that was as comfortable as another room in our house. Since finishing it, its uses have ranged from an office to a games room, a music practice room and as a place for friends to come and stay. This was the first project that I designed and my brother and I (18 and 20 years old at the time) built it from scratch in the summer of 2010. Since finishing this one, I've designed and built another family room, this time in a friend's garden. They have been really exciting and rewarding projects, as well as fantastic experience for me during my training to hopefully become an architect.
The building is approx 9ft x 12ft and 8ft high. The foundations are railway sleepers on top of concrete trenches 1ft deep and wide and which run the length of the two longest walls. We bought all the insulation, windows, roofing felt and flooring from ebay and based some of the design around the windows that we found in order to reduce cost.
