This London Outbuilding Isn’t Just a Garden Shed
An architect’s beautiful wooden ‘Monopoly house’ serves as an office, a theater, a storage space and more
Many garden sheds are small wooden structures tucked away in the back of the yard and filled with bikes, lawn mowers and garden tools. This one in southwest London is wood, but that’s where the similarities end. Supersized and superbly designed, it’s a multifunctional outdoor room that’s as smart as it is beautiful. Take the tour to find out more.
Located at the end of a relatively narrow yard and facing the house, it serves as a shed, office, summer room and theater.
How did Moreno Masey come up with the striking structure? “The volumetric shape is a proper shed. It’s a child’s drawing of a house, a Monopoly house — four walls and a pitched roof,” he says. “Set within a Victorian [row house property], the form is contextual, but it’s supersized — it frames the outside space both visually and functionally.”
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How did Moreno Masey come up with the striking structure? “The volumetric shape is a proper shed. It’s a child’s drawing of a house, a Monopoly house — four walls and a pitched roof,” he says. “Set within a Victorian [row house property], the form is contextual, but it’s supersized — it frames the outside space both visually and functionally.”
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The form of the building draws on many sources collected by Moreno Masey on his travels. “It’s a collection of stolen ideas from things I’ve seen: the cladding from a barn in Austria, the door from a brewery in Oregon, the physical form so ingrained in our cultural language as house.”
The building is covered in recycled wood, which gives it a lovely weathered look and softens the boxy outline of the contemporary building. “The oak boards are old and silvered,” Moreno Masey says, “and they’re laid with dark gaps to create a stark geometric pattern.”
Inside, the space is simply decorated with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a gray-painted wall on which a film can be projected, a plywood wall framing a wooden desk and chair, and a bright yellow sofa that can go outside on sunny days.
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The building is covered in recycled wood, which gives it a lovely weathered look and softens the boxy outline of the contemporary building. “The oak boards are old and silvered,” Moreno Masey says, “and they’re laid with dark gaps to create a stark geometric pattern.”
Inside, the space is simply decorated with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, a gray-painted wall on which a film can be projected, a plywood wall framing a wooden desk and chair, and a bright yellow sofa that can go outside on sunny days.
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A practical tiled floor runs beyond the interior to the patio, and the door is a glass garage model, which rolls up and across the ceiling to leave a clear opening. “Inside is outside,” Moreno Masey says of the design.
Tucked away behind wood-covered doors is a storage area that keeps assorted outdoor items neatly out of sight.
The shape remains streamlined due to the lack of gutters. “Guttering would interrupt the almost monolithic form of the eaves,” he says. “By removing the gutter, you take away any sense of domesticity, and the building becomes a pure form.”
Tucked away behind wood-covered doors is a storage area that keeps assorted outdoor items neatly out of sight.
The shape remains streamlined due to the lack of gutters. “Guttering would interrupt the almost monolithic form of the eaves,” he says. “By removing the gutter, you take away any sense of domesticity, and the building becomes a pure form.”
The siding actually negates the need for traditional gutters.
“This is a small building and, as such, the water we are talking about is limited,” Moreno Masey says. “Because the roof and walls are all made in exactly the same way, the water runs through the gaps in the cladding and down the membrane behind to the floor. There’s a lip over the doors to help push the water away from the openings in the rain.”
“This is a small building and, as such, the water we are talking about is limited,” Moreno Masey says. “Because the roof and walls are all made in exactly the same way, the water runs through the gaps in the cladding and down the membrane behind to the floor. There’s a lip over the doors to help push the water away from the openings in the rain.”
In the U.K., a summer room might get only a few months of use, but Moreno Masey designed this space to be enjoyed all year. “The room is heated and insulated to better than building regulations,” he says, “so it stays very warm.”
On the flip side, during the summer, the space stays cool thanks to its east-facing position. “It’s a true multifunctional space,” Moreno Masey says. “It’s an office and study primarily, but it’s also a cinema and a garden room on a sunny day. When we have big family parties, it also doubles as a bar!”
On the flip side, during the summer, the space stays cool thanks to its east-facing position. “It’s a true multifunctional space,” Moreno Masey says. “It’s an office and study primarily, but it’s also a cinema and a garden room on a sunny day. When we have big family parties, it also doubles as a bar!”
So what do the neighbors make of this unique structure? “It’s quite unusual in its setting,” Moreno Masey says, “and not a very conventional approach to the garden room question. I think the neighbors saw it midconstruction and were terrified of this black Monopoly hotel being erected in the garden, but once the cladding was fitted, it blended quite effortlessly into the space.
“We had to be very sensitive to the rear neighbors to ensure we didn’t impact on their house,” he adds. “This created an asymmetrical section, which we then made symmetrical again internally.”
“We had to be very sensitive to the rear neighbors to ensure we didn’t impact on their house,” he adds. “This created an asymmetrical section, which we then made symmetrical again internally.”
Is there anything else Moreno Masey has learned from this project — any advice for those wanting to build something similar? “When you build a shed, it needs to look amazing,” he says, “because from now on, that’s your view [from the house]!”
The building has greatly improved the way the family uses the outdoor space. “With the area bookended by living spaces, the garden itself has been transformed into an outdoor living room,” he says.
“We now have two terraces to sit at and two internal spaces that each face the garden. They offer different things, not only [in terms of] sunlight and views, but also functions — the shed is not a kitchen and it’s not a TV room; it’s a cinema and a study. When we get the paddling pool out, it’s even a pool house.”
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The building has greatly improved the way the family uses the outdoor space. “With the area bookended by living spaces, the garden itself has been transformed into an outdoor living room,” he says.
“We now have two terraces to sit at and two internal spaces that each face the garden. They offer different things, not only [in terms of] sunlight and views, but also functions — the shed is not a kitchen and it’s not a TV room; it’s a cinema and a study. When we get the paddling pool out, it’s even a pool house.”
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Who lives here: Architect Rodrigo Moreno Masey, founder of MorenoMasey, with his wife, three daughters and their dog, Bodie
Location: London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
“It’s a decorated shed,” says Rodrigo Moreno Masey of the structure that he built behind his Victorian row house for about $38,500. But this deceptively simple description underplays what is actually a clever multifunctional space that was designed with much care and thought.