Working from home
The shift to working from home has blurred boundaries between professional and personal. In this changing landscape, with an increased requirement for home working, there is a pressing need to find new ways of sharing space. Even as we move on, it is likely that this era of remote and flexible working will remain.
We share this challenge – as parents and partners ourselves – and as architects we are keenly pursuing design solutions to help clients balance family and focused time.
Dedicated workspace and privacy, free from domestic distractions, are essential. For many of us, video chat has become a common way to connect with colleagues and clients, ideally without background noise or movement. Others may face spatial challenges, for example to accommodate workbenches, production and storage.
Whatever your occupation, finding the perfect place can be tricky, particularly where dwellings have been remodelled for open plan living. This remains a popular concept, creating more social, family-focused space, but admittedly is not wholly compatible with working from home.
Design solutions for home offices
For larger properties, or older ones that retain their original layout, repurposing an existing room may provide a simple solution. But even in more modest houses, an evaluation of usage patterns often reveals under-utilised spaces.
Whatever your circumstances, we will work with you to review and reconfigure the layout of your home, to create complete separation or flexible work zones. We can even design innovative furniture, storage and partitioning solutions that enable single spaces to serve multiple uses.
An alternative approach is to consider how else your home is used, and to focus on redefining those areas instead. This can yield a double benefit, by improving the utility of other living spaces as well as freeing up somewhere to work.
Of course, extensions and conversions are a more distinct and permanent solution, including basements, lofts, garages, outbuildings or garden offices. Giles Architects provides a full design and planning service for construction or conversion projects, and for new-build garden rooms or office pods.
Wherever the solution lies, we will help you to create the space you require, and restore some much needed peace.
