Outbuilding of the Week: A Backyard Writer’s Shed by Weston Surman & Deane

I think most of us will agree that there’s no more pleasant spot to spend an afternoon working than in the garden. But for many of us, moving a desk, chair, and personal library into the garden would be too much of a leap. If you dream of a garden office but haven’t yet commissioned one, you’ll take vicarious pleasure in the writer’s shed that architects Weston Surman & Deane designed for an author and illustrator in London.

The architect team worked with the client to build a backyard escape: “Drawing on the historically intimate relationship between writers and their sheds, the space was conceived as a haven in the city; a fairy-tale hut at the bottom of the garden where the client could retreat and immerse himself in his work.”

For more on the writer’s life, see another Perfect Writing Shed in the Garden.

Photographs by Wai Ming Ng.

Above: The garden shed, completed last spring. The architects acted as designers, project managers, site managers, and lead contractors, allowing the firm to deliver an ambitious design within a limited timeframe and budget.

Above: Oiled OSB and painted pine tongue and groove flooring were used throughout the shed.

Above: A wood stove sits atop a hearth of cut concrete paving slabs and is flanked by custom bookshelves designed to store the client’s large book collection.

Above: A closeup of the bookshelves and horizontal window.

Above: Garden taps above a porcelain sink make a space for the illustrator to clean his paint brushes and keep his work space tidy.

Above: The offset pitch of the roof allowed the architects the opportunity to include a north-facing skylight above the client’s desk.

Above: Seen from the outside, the north-facing wall of skylights (Right) on the slanted roof and a bespoke sliding door and frameless windows (Left) flood the artist’s workspace with natural light.

Above: Firewood for fueling the stove stacked against the cedar shingles of the shed.

Above: The back-lit cedar facade glows with warm light in the early evening.

For another project using cedar shingles, see Summer Living in Montauk on Remodelista.

Satisfied to spend New Year’s day looking at Garden Sheds? We can help.