A Shed of One’s Own.

Virginia Woolf's essay A Room of One's Own is a landmark of twentieth-century feminist thought. It explores the history of women in literature through an unconventional and highly provocative investigation of the social and material conditions required for the writing of literature. These conditions—time, privacy, and independence— underwrite all productive endeavors in any field.

Which brings us to the title of this post. A client has requested, in addition to a house, that I also built a room of one’s own for him. I told him, that I have always had a shed of my own (my garden studio). It is my sanctuary. My place away ‘from it all’. It is where I go to ‘germinate’ ideas, where I go when I absolutely must get it done. It is where I am myself, by myself, with myself. No thrills. Beautiful light (artificial light corrupts colors). Just a work table, chair, and bed. Apart from their usefulness, sheds are cozy places to be in. You can fiddle about and make a mess, you can sit and think, or you can just sit. My client loves the idea, and he loves my idea of a shed. I will build one for him.

He will call it, his ‘fiddling hut’.

Charles has a shed of his own;
he calls it his ‘do cot’.
Into it, he vanishes more and more often these days.

Sylvia has a
shed of her own
she calls hers‘idea lab’.








A friend in Kenya has moved from the main house to this beach retreat, his “Away From It All”. It was constructed without architectural plans, conventional materials, or electricity. Built in the vernacular style, using local techniques it represents his triumph of hope over experience.

Mona and Peter do not care two

about rooms, sheds, huts or studios.
Their cars have more amenities’ than most five star hotels.

Chacun à son gout.