Working from Home
It’s now November, and most businesses have nailed down their COVID-19 practices and policies depending on whether employees can work remotely. We are recognizing the value in creating a workspace in your house or apartment that is designated specifically for work and homework throughout the day. Creating a workspace is effective in mentally compartmentalizing the time in your day that is designated for working and for relaxing now that both activities may be taking place in the same space. So if you didn’t already have a home office, now may be the perfect time to create one. No matter what kind of space you live in, it is good mental hygiene to create a space that is just for focusing.
As we are currently working on various projects throughout the Bay Area, we’ve been thinking about the home offices we’ve designed in the past and how this topic is relevant now more than ever. Especially considering the colder months ahead as we move from Autumn into fall, providing us with another reason to spend more time indoors.
The colorful workspace above is from our project in Danville, California. This is the perfect space for concentration with its clean surfaces and ample counter space for a laptop, notebook, and a cup of coffee. White cabinets, window treatments, and countertops make the room look spacious with playful accents of color in red and blue. Having an accent color such as the red paneled shelving and matching hardware on the cabinets draws the eye up to the ceiling and also is an exciting bold color to stimulate your creativity while at work. Having this pop of color and adding personal touches to your office such as the collage of artwork on the far blue wall can make the room more inviting, a place you’d like to spend part of your day while working from home. It can be difficult to find a balance of comfort in a home office remaining wary of making this room too comfortable such as adding a couch with blankets, which we often associate with relaxation.
Places we would avoid working in are your bedroom and the couch, especially if there’s a TV in the room that may be distracting. Above is a workspace in our project from Portola Valley. Each home office will be slightly different depending on the space you’re working with. One feature in this project we wanted to point out is the amount of natural light this room gets. Seeing greenery and feeling sunlight coming through a window can be energizing, and breathing in fresh air can stimulate brain activity. The file cabinets double as a countertop for working on a desktop remotely, and here again we’ve added color where we can with the transparent orange desk chair and the green pouf in the outdoor furniture. Both offices are used as a place for storage as well, creating space using cubbies and cabinets that are built into the wall allows cluttered items to move off the floor, providing more space.
From our project in Los Gatos, we made an extra room off of the bedroom into a home office with a sliding glass door. A key feature we can’t forget is having a door that closes attached to the office. Having the ability to shut the door and keep your office quiet during the day can be a valuable asset if there’s a conference call you need to be on and don’t want your coworkers to see or hear family members who may also be in the house during the day. Some characteristics that are common in the home work spaces we design are the source of natural light, a clean desktop, storage space, and a door that closes.
Since COVID-19, working from home is now a standard for many industries. It’s important to separate your work from home life because for many of us our homes are a place we used to return to every day after being away at work and being home can be associated with rest and relaxation. We wish everyone the best as we continue making our way through these challenging times.
ATI has some exciting projects in the pipeline. We’ve posted some pictures on our Instagram page of our art installation in a work in progress project in Tiburon, CA. More pictures are to come! We hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.