BIG.SHED.HOUSE designed by Perversi-Brooks Architects is an adaptive re-use, alterations and additions project to a great, big 100 year-old shed, lovingly converted into boutique self-contained short-stay accommodation in the Huon Valley, Tasmania. Photography by Sam Perversi-Brooks

Key to the success of the project was an economic build undertaken by the client (an author/artist) as an ‘owner builder’ over a period of 5 years. The original aspiration of simply stopping the dilapidated structure from rotting into the hill, slowly grew into an exciting opportunity to add value to the property by adapting and celebrating the existing shed, in order to create a unique accommodation experience and to provide a passive income stream which has enabled the client to focus on other creative pursuits. An early decision was made to add the necessities of comfortable inhabitation (bedroom, bathroom, laundry, entry porch/toolshed and wood storage) as ‘pods’ hung off the existing structure, rather than to fill the space of the existing shed with these rooms – in this way the volume of the shed has been preserved as a high, voluminous, singular space.
The floor and roof structure of the existing shed were left pretty much ‘as-is’ but cleaned up a bit, complete with sections of wooden shingles and corrugated roof cladding.
The materiality of the existing shed was counter-pointed with a palette of ply, tiles and white paint...