Studio Ideas: Designing spaces for children

Well goodness me! As I celebrated the arrival of 2020 on a boozy evening three months ago I would NEVER have guessed we would all be working from home! Well nearly all of us….. A major change to our daily lives and one that mixes up what we know to be our home and what we know to be our place of work.

So what spaces do we associate with home & work?

'Home':

• Warmth

• Comfort

• Security

• Calm

• Social

• Relaxation

'Work':

• Focus

• Identity

• Strength

So how on earth do these two mix?

Working from home has become more commonplace as companies' office spaces become more expensive and technology improves.  Anyone who has had a period of time working from home will have become familiar with established principles of how to manage it, such as:

Get Dressed

• Establish Boundaries

• Get out and about

• Pick up the Phone

• Take Regular breaks.

But what is the spatial impact of the clash between the home environment and the environment needed for work?

What do I need from a works pace?

Separation: A home office should have a distinctly separate space from where you do your day to day living.  The physical separation helps you to transfer in and out of work.  This does not have to be a totally separate room (a corner of a room may work) - but just demonstrates that working in bed or at the dining table just does not work in the longer term.  Spare bedrooms, generous landings can double up as a study space if you do not have a separate room.

For those that need quiet to focus then the separation is critical.  For those that struggle with the quiet there are services like Coffivity to mimic the noise of a coffee shop, which has been said to help with concentration.

Connectivity: We have all been there, when a work task takes you four times longer than in the office due to poor WIFI.  Invest in what matters and make sure your connection speeds are the best they can be.  You need to ensure that you feel that you are productive, otherwise very soon you will feel as though you are not achieving.

The Jewel Box: FRAHER