Not every family can move into a larger home when they are falling short on space as children grow up. While it would be an ideal solution, it involves uprooting everyone from friends, extended family, adjusting to a new school/job as well as the whole process of moving which is extremely draining. To offer a smarter, more convenient solution, Parsonson Architects created the Herald Garden Studio – a functional, flexible, freestanding 183-square-foot structure that sits in your backyard to accommodate for all those growing pains!
Sometimes the best solution is to find a way to make the most of what one already has. Herald Garden Studio was born from one such situation because the client was a couple from New Zealand and they live in a small two-bedroom Victorian cottage that was getting cramped with their two growing sons. They didn’t want to leave their neighborhood and this compact backyard studio was the perfect economical solution. It provides additional space for a peaceful retreat, to study, work from home, make-shift guest house, or even storage. It is separate from the house but visually connected and linked by a sheltered outdoor space.
The studio includes office space, a bathroom, storage space at the rear, a play area, and a guest bed in the loft up the ladder. The loft is a cozy private corner and has a net panel in front for safety for children/pets. The studio has a number of windows on the upper level to let in natural light. Wooden beams set in a triangular arrangement make the structural framework and to keep the costs low the walls are clad with zero-formaldehyde oriented strand board (OSB). The roof and the rear and side walls are covered with green, corrugated Colorsteel which is also a low-cost option and it matches the surrounding garden. The tiny home also has a pergola that is covered with durable but inexpensive polycarbonate and a wooden deck that extends around most of the structure.
“Both the deck, pergola, and the main interior space have been conceived as one triangulated structure, stitching together the spaces and reinforcing the interior-exterior connection, while relating to the delicacy of the surrounding vegetation. Materials are unadorned, raw, and but carefully assembled. Besides the walls, the interior sliding doors and bathroom counter are made from OSB as well, all finished with natural WOCA oil. Some people may understandably balk at the idea of having wall-to-wall coverage of raw OSB, but it’s an economical choice that is both easy to maintain, and also helps to emphasize the openness and minimalism of the space,” explain the architects.
Herald Garden studio is a simple, affordable, multifunctional upgrade to any family home and it is no surprise that the design has won awards! After the pandemic, all of us understand the perils of sharing space with family and this backyard tiny home is the perfect way to optimize existing floor space and keep the peace, privacy and patience among the family.
In a world with people using large, bulky spectacle cases, the Oqular Clip is so simple, even Khaby Lame would approve. The premise behind the…
Putting all your tactile controls right at your fingertips, the TourBox Elite gives you precise control over your content-creating software, speeding up your editing process….
Those crazy fun house mirrors found in amusement parks use to scare me when I was a wee boy. I don’t know, something about my…
The Air Column isn’t ‘just another’ air purifier, it uses its carefully considered design and unique form to stray away from the mechanical vibe that…
Don’t you love the artwork a barista creates in your coffee? I adore it and try to keep the foam intact until the last drop….
Let’s face it. As brilliant and advanced as your smartphone is, it isn’t immortal. That thin, slippery, all-glass device is sure to show battle scars…
We’re an online magazine dedicated to covering the best in international product design. We have a passion for the new, innovative, unique and undiscovered. With our eyes firmly focused on the future.