Solarpowered shed: SkyShades Garden at Chelsea Garden Show 2011

There's no doubt about the finest shedworking display at the Chelsea Flower Show this year, the 10m x 10m space in Main Avenue (MA9) which will be SkyShades Garden designed by Marney Hall. The centrepiece is a garden office belonging to a shedworking garden designer and powered by Skyshades solar panels on the green roof which would supply all the power needed to run the office (the company specialises in lightweight, thin film flexible solar power roofing solutions).

The building itself has been designed by Phil Game of Pure Folly (featured previously on Shedworking here). It will be built from larch logs taken from a sustainable forest in Bedforshire with bark left on. Visitors to the show will be able to view the office through ceiling to floor windows from the adjacent path to see how things are working. Here's a snippet from a short feature on the RHS site about it:

The building has been put together without the use of any ‘hard’ building materials. “We’ve even used broom handles as dowels,” she adds. Using traditional techniques, the office is constructed on a wooden base plate, the verticals being locked together by another horizontal plate. Spaces between the verticals are fitted with double glazed panels to allow for maximum natural light within the building.

Natural paints enhance the feeling of light and space within this very original design. “We’ve taken the colours from the lichen in forests, with reddish hues and golds from the trunks.”

As well as the marvellous garden office, the rest of the biodiverse garden is equally attractive with around 200 species and a range of habitats to nourish local wildlife - more details at the article here and a full press pack at the SkyShades website including full planting details.
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