Garden office, gym, and covered seating area under one roof
Published: 31 July 2023
Reading Time: 3 minutes 6 seconds
This 8.5m x 4.3m garden room in Banstead, Surrey, illustrates perfectly how these versatile buildings can accommodate multiple uses under one roof. Garden Fortress designed and built the space, dividing it into a home office, gym, and sheltered outdoor seating area.
Garden Fortress's design successfully integrates the three distinct areas into one unified and well-designed building. Based in Epsom Downs, Garden Fortress works across Surrey and London, as well as the surrounding counties of Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire.
An Example of the Garden Fortress Classic Room 6
This project is an example of the Garden Fortress Classic Room 6 range, which, as standard, includes the covered outdoor seating area. The trend of incorporating a sheltered seating area alongside a fully insulated garden room has surged in recent years. Given the unpredictable British weather, it extends the indoor-outdoor lifestyle that a garden room promotes.
As visible in the images, the Garden Fortress team carefully details both the outdoor living areas and the interior of the insulated garden room. The underside of the roof canopy mirrors the timber cladding of the walls, and lighting is recessed into the canopy to extend the area's usability into the evening. These indoor-outdoor spaces offer a great spot for entertaining.
We've explored other examples of this range in previous articles. Check out this article from last year featuring a corner configuration of sliding doors.
Transforming a Sloping Site into a Feature
The chosen site at the end of the client's garden featured a significant fall in ground level. To avoid the costs and logistics of excavating the ground to create a level base, the homeowner collaborated with Garden Fortress to design a structure that works with the sloping terrain.
Garden Fortress utilise ground screw foundations for their projects. This system enables them to relatively effortlessly create a level base on sloping ground. The team incorporated steps into the large composite deck, facilitating a gentle transition between the different levels and providing a welcoming entrance to the building.
A Fusion of Exterior Finishes
The Garden Fortress team has an eye for mixing exterior finishes to highlight architectural details. Western Red Cedar cladding has been combined with black Southern Grandis cladding, used to create feature walls in the covered seating area and the canopy that runs along the front elevation.
Southern Grandis cladding originates from the Eucalyptus Grandis tree, native to the east coast of Australia but also cultivated worldwide. Its wood is known for its strength, durability, and relatively straight grain, making it an excellent cladding material.
The building's hidden rear elevation sports a black metal cladding finish. All three finishes promise long, low-maintenance lifespans.
Black finishes are also applied on the fascia detail of the roof canopy, the supporting posts, and the composite deck. The high-spec aluminium door and window frames are also finished in black.
By restricting the colour palette to two colours, Garden Fortress has achieved a bold contemporary aesthetic, making the garden room the garden's focal point.
Modern Interior Spaces
Garden Fortress completes the interior of their buildings with a plastered and decorated finish. They often use black skirting and architraves for a contemporary touch and maintain a minimal colour palette. This detailing is complemented with matte black electrical sockets and switches.
The office and gym floors feature engineered wood in a rustic Oak finish, which is complemented by an Oak door leading into the office area.
Well-Specified Electrical Package
This home office and gym building includes a well-specified electrical package, both inside and out. Each room features LED downlights recessed in the ceiling. Exterior grade LED downlights are recessed into the underside of the roof canopy, all remotely controllable.
LED lighting is also integrated into the decking, also controllable remotely, enabling the owner to switch the garden room lights on from the house.
The office includes an Ethernet point for Wi-Fi, hard-wired to the router in the main house for a reliable internet connection.
Garden Fortress garden rooms are constructed using Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs), combined with double-glazed doors and windows, to create a highly insulated building. For the coldest days of the year, Garden Fortress's clients chose to add underfloor heating in the office and a slim electric panel radiator in the gym. The radiator is Wi-Fi compatible, enabling remote control.
Learn More
To learn more about the Classic Room 6, explore this page on the Garden Fortress website. Speak with the Garden Fortress team on 07931 364 389 or email: info@gardenfortress.com to understand more about your options.
Garden Fortress have a show building that's well worth a visit, showcasing many features that you could incorporate into your own building. Book a visit here.
