London-based manufacturer Sto has collaborated with architecture and design practice Sam Jacob Studio to create a oversized replica of an ordinary garden shed by 3D scanning its facade and reproducing it using a product called Verolith. The oversized shed is covered in Verolith panels, a chalky lightweight material made from volcanic stone, typically used for building facades due to its ability to be customised by a CNC machine. 

“One Thing After Another explores how objects can be transmitted through forms of technology and how that transmission leaves its trace within architectural substance - both a recording of a thing and that thing simultaneously,” says Sam Jacob of Sam Jacob Studio.

The shed copy has been 3D scanned and blown up to a scale of 1.8 its original size and both the original and the replica are exhibited at the Sto Werkstaff gallery in Clerkenwell as part of Clerkenwell Design Week 2016. The exhibition allows visitors to wander into the original shed, which sits inside the larger copy, whilst a smaller copy of the shed sits within the original garden shed.

From a distance, the horizontal timber planks of the garden shed are visible on the Verolith facade but close up views reveal the digital triangulations created by CNC machine process. The project looks at the relationship between the digital and the physical in architectural production. “The point at which the information is lost, that’s when the copy is made,” says Eddie Blake of Sam Jacob Studio.

The theme of copying is further emphasised by the interior of the replica, which is covered by Sto’s Ventec mirrored glass in a dark green shade. 

This project follows on from Sam Jacob studio’s previous work called MK Menhir, a 1:1 public sculpture in Milton Keynes, which is a replica of sarsen stone from the Avebury stone circle.

Sto Werkstatt or Sto workshop is situated in Clerkenwell and hosts regular talks, exhibitions and consultations with architects and designers.

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