If you ever happen to be in Hammersmith, visit the Shepherd’s for two wonderful secret gardens: Godolphin garden and Loris garden (check here for the directions).
Even if green stuff and creepy-crawlies are not your kind of thing you should check the gardens for a rather amazing architectural feature – Eco-Sheds.
Each garden has one. They both have been designed by a Brighton-based architect studio – Shape Architecture.
Why would a small community garden need a shed anyway? Well, mainly for educational purposes to teach kids about sustainable materials and green building.
They were both built using mostly recycled materials such as sustainably sourced (or recycled) timber, recycled sinks and windows, newspaper insulation and a gravel roof. They even used 2nd-hand doors for balustrading.
The gravel roof is an especially interesting feature. The eco-shed of the Godolphin garden has all sorts of life-forms (weeds in particular) living on its roof making the shed an integral part of the environment.
With this eco-friendly philosophy in mind, everyone can build an eco-shed in their own garden. It just takes some reclaimed materials that you can obtain from your local architectural salvage yard… and some imagination!
Nice article. As both a shed lover and an eco campaigner, its nice to see both combined!