As part of our continued series on Sheds and Shedworking, Alex Johnson from Shedworking provided this post on different designs.

The idea of the primitive hut has been a central starting point for many architects since the days of Vitruvius who famously wrote that a building should have ‘firmitas’, ‘utilitas’, and ‘venustas’, in other words it should stand up, it should do something, and it should look good. These are also the basic requirements for the 21st century hut, the garden office.

One of the leading names in the field in the US is Edgar Blazona who has sold more than 1,000 of his MD 100, part of his extensive Modular Dwellings range: the smallest 6’ by 8’ model also includes a pullout bed. Cabana Village’s sheds are made out of the popular Western Red Cedar and shipped largely pre-fabricated for you to assemble. Cabana’s web site also has a natty little ‘drag and drop’ design tool so that you can customise your shed design online – maybe add a cupola or take away a flowerbox - and price it up as you go.

Other possibilities include the family-run Modern Cabana, Metroshed and Modern Shed, the brainchild of designers Ahna Holder and Ryan Smith who run Seattle-based Grey Design Studio.

Nor must your garden office be made of wood. Tom Sandonato and Martin Wehmann’s Californian Kithaus range uses lightweight aluminium prefab modules and structural insulated panels: their K3 model needs no foundation and because it is aluminium does not need painting and will not rot. And the bamboo-framed Nomad Yurt from Ecoshack in California is also particularly suitable for smaller back yard spaces.

For a copy of The Shed magazine, please email Alex at alex@splashmedia.co.uk or go to Shedworking for daily updates.

Guest Post by Alex Johnson from Shedworking.

If you want to create, it’s easier if you have a shedlike atmosphere in which to experiment. William S. Harley and Arthur Davidson created their first motorcycle in a backyard shed. Harry Ramsden began his fish and chip empire in a hut in Guiseley, near Leeds. Technology giant HP began from a garage which is now California Historic Landmark No. 976, Birthplace of Silicon Valley (now preserved at 367 Addison Avenue, Palo Alto). Herbert Frood designed ‘brake shoes’ for cart wheels and tanks in his shed at Combs in the Peak District. Walt Disney’s first studio was in a garage at his uncle Robert’s house in Los Angeles, saved from demolition in 1984 and moved to the Stanley Ranch Museum.

Indeed, why limit yourself to just one? Fuzzy Felt was invented by Lois Allan in one of her various sheds at her Buckinghamshire home and sculptor Henry Moore had several shed studios, none of them very showy, at his home in Perry Green which is now open to the public. They were converted from former sheds, stables and in one case a village shop, but all had good light and were fit for purpose, including good views of sheep. According to the Henry Moore Foundation, his sheds were “at the heart of the creative process, a place Moore could come to think, to work, and to get away from the activities and distractions elsewhere…”.

That there are no rules in a shed is a truth recognised by The MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, USA, which offers writers, artists and composers small studios in which to work for up to eight weeks. The colony, which celebrated its centenary in 2007, has 32 of these shedworking atmospheres dotted around its 450 acres of woodland and fields. Each one is fully, though not excessively, furnished with the tools of the trade – pianos for composers, writing tables for writers, natural and full-spectrum lighting for artists - but there are no phones and messages are delivered only in case of emergency. Among those who have made use of the facilities here are Leonard Bernstein, who completed his seminal work Mass there, Aaron Copeland, Studs Terkel, Barbara Tuchman, and Alice Walker.

Next week: a look at garden office designs

For a copy of The Shed magazine, please email Alex at alex@splashmedia.co.uk or go to Shedworking. for daily updates