It is easy to make fun of sheds. Traditionally they have been places where men—mainly men—can indulge their more esoteric hobbies. Follies for follies. For some they are artistic or creative spaces, for writing or music or ceramics. But most are for whiling away an afternoon, for pottering rather than pottery. The architectural identity of a garden shed—liminal and impermanent, separate from the main residence—echoes its use. To go to your shed is to liberate yourself from the general bustle, and not always to play with your model train set. In the words of the author Michael Pollan, who wrote a book about building his own writing shed, it is a “temple of solitude off the beaten track of everyday life.” If a garden is a fantasy for many, a shed is a fantasy within a fantasy....