Shed spaces of all sizes are popular these days.  Sure, you may run into zoning laws and ordinances, but given the legalities, a well-designed shed space could work perfectly as an affordable office, workshop, or anything else.  So we were interested to learn that We Love Sheds just held an international competition to find the best International Shed of the Year 2009.  Maryland-based entrant Chuck Witmer beat out roughly 186 other shed entries to take this year's prize for THE_SHED.  He built it himself, and it's beautiful.

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"La casa movil de Vodafone," or the Vodafone Mobile Home, creatively combines glass house living, tiny house design, loft-like features, sustainable elements, and portable architecture all in one tight package.  Design Boom recently reported that the portable home was designed by Waskman Design Studio, with CuldeSac, for Vodafone to showcase its fixed phone and wireless internet services.  And blogger Marcos Morales and his family of four are vacationing throughout Spain with it as we speak. 

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After nine bids on eBay, some lucky duck ended up with a reclaimed prefab for $75,100.  The prefab was built by Reclaimed Space for Dwell on Design and the proceeds went to both Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles and Hollywood for Habitat for Humanity.  Ecofabulous created the interior using a number of stylish, green products.  According to the eBay listing, this 400 square foot home included the following:

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In conjunction with the small structures trend we’re following, reader Joseph Sandy sent in these photos of his 8′ x 10′ backyard shed in Sonoma County, California.  Sandy bought $180 worth of old fencing from Heritage Salvage, the local reclaimed material supplier, and cut the pieces in usable 2′ segments to create the mesmerizing reclaimed rainscreen.  With a polycarbonate clerestory and plywood/pegboard walls, the inside is ready to go.  And Sandy liked the finished look so much, he’s thinking of turning the design into a prefab kit offering of sheds, studios, offices, and housing.

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In the news, there’s a lot of talk about process journalism and using a feedback loop to evolve stories.  It made me think about iterative design and the potential role of blogs and new media to transform projects.  Probably, one of the most interesting and current examples I can think of comes from Michael Janzen, who’s behind Tiny House Design, Nine Tiny Feet, and Tiny Free House, among other ventures.  Using Google SketchUp, Janzen transformed a shed cluster (through comments, analysis, feedback, and subsequent iterations) into a sustainable dogtrot home.  Check it out:

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