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    Estudio Ebras and Hause Möbel create live-work concept with VR and desert-influenced spaces

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    This space with futuristic “virtual reality” style LED strip lighting was designed by Argentinian firm Estudio Ebras and furniture brand Hause Möbel to be used as both a home and an office.

    The temporary Green Home Office project was created for the Casa FOA 2024 architecture and design exhibition in Córdoba, Argentina, inside an under-construction building complex named Pocito.
    At the Green Home Office, an immersive workspace features a grid of LED lights to mimic a virtual reality environmentEstudio Ebras was presented with a windowless space to transform into a flexible environment designed to facilitate both living and working, using furniture from Argentinian brand Hause Möbel.
    Entry to the 110-square-metre space was through a low, warmly lit antechamber that offered options to turn left into a compact workspace, or right into the larger central area.
    Entry to the exhibition was via a compressed, warmly lit antechamberThe dark, “immersive” office was panelled with wood veneer squares between strips of LED light that formed a grid across the walls and floor.

    “The immersive space features a luminous grid that simulates the grid of virtual reality,” said Estudio Ebras. “On one side is a desk, and on the other, a chaise lounge for resting and transporting us to a natural environment in virtual reality.”
    The space was divided into the immersive office and a larger room decorated in desert huesReached via a short cork-floored corridor, the living space featured peach, orange and rust hues that created a contrasting desert-like aesthetic.
    “Upon entering the central area, a change in scale is perceived due to its dimensions and height,” Estudio Ebras said.
    The larger space was designed for both living and working, and echoes the desert-like climate of CórdobaIn place of windows, the designers worked with a light artist to install illuminated, elongated pill-shaped panels behind translucent floor-to-ceiling curtains.
    The light panels displayed sunset colours, while soil and dried plants ran around the perimeter to evoke “a mountainous, wild, and arid landscape typical of the area”.
    Suspended over a dining or meeting table was a light fixture with rings of LEDs insideCurved-edge surfaces flowed into one another, such as a kitchen counter that swooped down from one wall and extended along another.
    In the centre of the room was a large table that could be used for either dining or meetings, accompanied by four orange chairs on castors.
    A separate space with sliding glass partitions was intended for video calls or quiet contemplationOverhead, a rough-textured fixture housed concentric rings of LEDs that gradually ascended inside the structure.
    At the end of the room, a bench was suspended from the ceiling, shaped to frame the trio of “window” lights behind.

    Eight home offices with stylish set-ups for remote working

    A separate space for quiet contemplation or taking video calls was tucked behind the entry corridor wall and closed off by sliding glass panels.
    This small room was lined with cork and furnished with a purple two-seater sofa. “The acoustic box allows for privacy to make a call, work with a laptop, or, within a home-like setting, provides recreational space,” said Estudio Ebras.
    The installation also included a bench that hung from the ceilingAs the project’s name suggests, it was designed with sustainability in mind, and a carbon footprint analysis was conducted throughout the design, exhibition and dismantling processes.
    To offset the installation’s footprint, native trees were planted in nearby Cerro Champaquí with the help of local nonprofit organization Fundación Sembradores de Agua.
    In place of windows, panels illuminated to mimic a sunset were installed behind translucent curtainsRecently completed projects in Córdoba include a house with weathering steel screens, a home lifted above a sloped site and  an office building wrapped in perforated metal.
    The photography is by Gonzalo Viramonte.
    Casa FOA 2024 took place 3 May to 2 June 2024 in Córdoba. For more events, exhibitions and talks in architecture and design visit Dezeen Events Guide.

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      Masquespacio founders create home and office where “everything revolves around play”

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      The founders of Spanish studio Masquespacio have transformed a traditional Valencian farmhouse into their self-designed home and studio, with maximalist interiors that nod to the Memphis movement.

      Creative and life partners Ana Milena Hernández Palacios and Christophe Penasse renovated the 1920s villa, which was once a farmhouse on the outskirts of Valencia, to create a hybrid home and studio that reflects their maximalist approach to interiors.
      Masquespacio has designed a live-work space in Valencia”Everything revolves around the concept of play,” explained Hernández Palacios, who co-founded Masquespacio with Penasse in 2010.
      “We’ve been influenced by many styles over the last decade, from New Memphis to art deco and futurism,” Penasse added. “We can say that our private home is a mix of it all.”
      The ground floor holds the studio’s workspacesThe duo maintained the building’s original timber front door and white facade decorated with light-blue window frames and ornate grilles.

      Inside, the ground floor was reserved for their studio, spread across several interconnected meeting rooms in the former farmstead, known locally as an alquería.
      Masquespacio restored the building’s original hydraulic floor tilesHere, Masquespacio restored the building’s decoratively patterned hydraulic floor tiles alongside its traditional doors and windows.
      Painted in bright hues, they help to colour-code the different office spaces, filled with the studio’s characteristic chunky, lumpy and latticed furniture.
      There is a double-height interior courtyard at the centre of the home”As always, the project includes a mix of colours, textures and forms – one of the main aspects of all our designs, no matter what aesthetic we’re working with,” Penasse told Dezeen.
      At the centre of the home is a double-height interior courtyard illuminated by skylights, with exposed-brick walls painted in lilac surrounded by wiggly flowerbeds with lush statement cheese plants.
      From the courtyard, visitors can see up to an interior balcony on the first floor, which is accessed via a purple concrete staircase and contains the living spaces.
      The couple’s bed is encased in a green dome next to a hot-pink seating booth.The balcony reveals two sculptural objects – a giant green dome that conceals the couple’s bed and a curved hot-pink screen that hides a seating booth.
      This immersive furniture – Penasse’s favourite part of the project – creates a focal point that connects both levels of the house but also provides more private quarters for the couple despite the open nature of the overall plan.
      A mosaic of yellow tiles defines the bathroom”There are no wall partitions to hide our home [from downstairs] but it’s kept private by the bed’s form and a semi-transparent green curtain that allows us to take advantage of the natural light almost everywhere on the upper floor,” explained Penasse.
      The sleeping area is connected to the main living space via a tunnel-like corridor, which includes an all-yellow bathroom with triangular cabinets and walls clad with a mosaic of handmade ceramic tiles.

      Ten self-designed studios by architects and designers

      Opposite the bathroom is a colourful open-air terrace featuring circular windows and similar built-in seating to Bun Turin – an Italian burger joint designed by Masquespacio with boxy blue-tiled tables created to look like swimming pools.
      “Geometry can be found all over our house,” explained Hernández Palacios. “Everything is a game of circles and triangles.”
      The terrace follows a similar geometry to the interiorsThe light blue kitchen includes large, triangular alcoves and cupboards finished in natural stone and aluminium, designed to conceal utilities.
      There is also an island made from veiny marble and petite glazed tiles. Bespoke Masquespacio bar stools were wrapped in matching pale blue fabric.
      Triangular cupboards feature in the kitchenNext to the open-plan kitchen, the living and dining spaces include more brightly coloured furniture from the studio’s Mas Creations collection, which features the same twisted and angular shapes and soft upholstery as the pieces downstairs.
      Floor-to-ceiling curtains form a backdrop for a snaking lime green sofa, while dark green dining chairs with pyramidal backrests were positioned around a jewel-like glass table.
      Striking pyramid-shaped dining chairs continue the maximalist theme”Ninety-five per cent of the furniture and objects in our house are part of our Mas Creations collection, locally designed and produced by our studio,” said Penasse.
      Similarly bold projects from Masquespacio include a restaurant in Milan, Italy, with interiors that take cues from futuristic spaceships and the first Mango Teen store in Barcelona featuring vivid graphic shapes.
      The photography is courtesy of Masquespacio. 

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      Studio McW transforms London warehouse into live-work space for Earthrise Studio

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      London-based architecture practice Studio McW has converted an east London warehouse into an office and living space for climate activists and filmmakers Jack Harries and Alice Aedy.

      The live-work space was renovated from a century-old shoe factory featuring steel windows, exposed concrete beams, and a double-height pitched roof. The studio took a minimalistic approach to the renovation, aiming to enhance the 1924 building’s original features.
      Studio McW converted an existing warehouse into a home office for Earthrise Studio”It was key for us to not only retain, but also celebrate the existing suspended slabs and concrete beams which tell the story of how the building was originally built,” studio co-founders Greg Walton and David McGahon told Dezeen.
      “By exposing the rawness of the existing brickwork and imperfect concrete, we were able to contrast this with softer tones and textures, be that the clay finish to the walls or the reclaimed timber boards on the floor, whilst mirroring the variation and depth inherent in such finishes.”
      The studio exposed existing textures and balanced them with soft clay-finished wallsHarries and Aedy wanted a space where they could both live and work on their media company Earthrise, which has a focus on communicating the climate crisis. The duo briefed the studio to design a multi-purpose space suitable for recording podcasts and hosting social gatherings, work meetings, and photoshoots.

      While the 100-square-metre space was made to serve various different functions, the studio wanted to maintain a sense of continuity throughout the building by keeping the design as simple as possible in all spaces.
      The existing large steel windows let light into the main office space”Whilst the joinery is highly specific to the needs of Jack and Alice, it is in essence a very simple intervention that ties together the entirety of the upper floor, and blurs the intersection between the functions required by a kitchen space, dining space, work space, and living space,” said Walton and McGahon.
      “This element of the scheme remained consistent from concept to completion and is integral to ensuring a continuity within the space.”
      A bedroom located behind a glazed wall occupies the lower floorStudio McW redesigned the entrance level, opening up the existing partitioned bedroom and dressing room to create a large aperture to draw light through the new glazed internal wall to the bathroom and utility space.
      Above, an open-plan living space is accessed by a staircase made from reclaimed Georgian pine floor boards, beside which runs a black steel balustrade.

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      Prior to the renovation, this floor was constricted by redundant overhead services and an unused concrete doorway. The studio removed these to open up the space both vertically and horizontally.
      A new concrete sideboard spans the length of the room, acting as seating and storage as well as displaying the clients’ collection of artwork, photography, and cameras. A matching concrete island sits in the centre of the kitchen.
      A staircase made from reclaimed timber leads to the main floorThe main space also features custom oak joinery, including a table, a shelving unit, and additional floating shelves. Both levels of the building were finished with toxin-absorbing matte clay walls.
      “Greg and David created a space that feels very much in the spirit of Earthrise. The apartment is a natural, flexible, and beautiful backdrop to our work and lives, and the design allows it to oscillate between functions accordingly,” Alice Aedy commented.
      Shelving units and a concrete bench offer storage and display space at the side of the kitchenAccording to the studio, the apartment remains well protected from the potential of overheating despite the age of the structure.
      “The open stair, tall ceilings to the living space and openable windows all contribute to passive stack ventilation which assist in keeping the space cool,” said McGahon and Walton. “The apartment has glazing that opens on both the east and west faces, allowing for cross-ventilation during the warmer summer months.”
      A lounge area fills the other end of the open spaceThe studio hopes additional recent and future refurbishments will improve the levels of thermal comfort.
      “The roof of the building had recently been refurbished with vast improvements made to the thermal performance,” Walton and McGahon commented.
      “All of the building occupants have contributed towards the replacement of the existing single-glazed steel Crittal windows throughout,” they continued.
      “This will provide vast improvements to the thermal performance of the glazing, whilst retaining the style akin to the original building. These works are due to take place over the next year.”
      Founded by David McGahon and Greg Walton, Studio McW is an architecture practice operating across the UK whose recent projects include a London home extension with oak joinery.
      The photography is by Lorenzo Zandri.

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      Nivek Remas renovates founder's home to serve as its office space

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      Toronto studio Nivek Remas has renovated its founder’s home to create an office for the studio based on changes in working conditions due to the coronavirus pandemic.

      Early in 2020, the Canadian interior design studio led by Kevin Chan and Samer Shaath was poised to lease new office space for its expanding business. However, these plans were halted by pandemic restrictions.
      Nivek Remas renovated one of its founder’s home for the studio officesThroughout the lockdowns that impacted Canadians and the subsequent work-from-home standards, the office sought ways to work together in the future, without going to an office full-time.
      “[We] quickly recognized the shift in what defines an office and the culture that was evolving from those blurred lines,” Nivek Remas’ Kevin Chan told Dezeen.
      The home was converted to have spaces for work and leisureThe duo decided to renovate one of their homes to serve as an office for the young firm, which was established in 2016.

      The new studio was completed in 2021 and is located in an area of Toronto called Cabbagetown, just east of the city centre.
      The studio plays into the work-from-home trendIt occupies 1,250 square feet (116 square metres) of a standalone house in a residential neighbourhood.
      The completed studio has a main office area, conference rooms, as well a kitchen and a dining nook.
      The ground floor has eight workstationsVisitors enter the office along a green hallway accented with glass wall sconces. By the entrance, there is a powder room and a coat closet.
      The ground floor has eight workstations laid in an open-concept configuration. Most of the furniture is black, including the desktops and chairs.
      The space functions as a workstation for the interior design studioAt the front of the house, a kitchenette and breakfast nook look out onto the street. The designers used a darker palette of greens and olive tones in the kitchenette area to contrast the workstations, which are painted white and filled with light and plants.
      An open staircase leads to the upper floor, where the team included a new conference room that offers some privacy from the main work area. It includes a long table and a couch, for more informal gatherings.
      Dark greens were used for some walls and detailsOther amenities of this home-and-office combination include a gym and bike storage for commuters located in the basement.
      The founders of Nivek Remas said that although the new office space helps collaboration, they balance out the time spent there with remote work.

      Ten tranquil garden studios designed for work and play

      The studio said that it has embraced a fully hybrid model and that the office space allows for “creative gathering”.
      “We see this as our studio for at least another five years or until we outgrow the space,” Chan said. “It’s a true representation of our studio work and ethos but also a true representation of the times and how casually defined offices are now.
      “Corporate offices are trying to become more WFH and more casual with coffee bars, and table tennis or gaming break out areas, but we’re approaching it from the other direction and making a residential space more studio,” he added.

      Many architects and designers embraced the work-from-home trend, building out new spaces for themselves during the pandemic.
      Other examples include a coastal Maine cabin that 30X40 Design Workshop completed as its office, and the Beverly Hills home of Gerhard Heusch, who built himself an underground office using concrete.
      The photography is by Scott Norsworthy.
      Project credits:Interior design: Nivek RemasConstruction: Shape Building GroupMillwork: Ell-Rod Architectural Millwork

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      Ten tranquil garden studios designed for work and play

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      As the start of summer in the northern hemisphere promises warmer days and longer evenings, our latest lookbook features 10 garden studios that provide extra space for work or relaxation.

      For homes with large gardens, a small studio can be a practical way to create a separate hideaway for working from home – which has become commonplace in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic – or simply to retreat to for privacy.
      From a timber-clad prefabricated cabin in Spain to architects’ self-designed home offices in London and the US, we round up 10 garden studios as the summer season begins.
      This is the latest in our lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks including green living rooms, mezzanine-level bedrooms and winding staircases.
      Photo is by ImagenSubliminalTini, Spain, by Delavegacanolasso

      Architecture studio Delavegacanolasso created a modular, prefabricated cabin called Tini that can be inserted into a garden and used as a peaceful home office.
      Clad in poplar OSB panels, Tini’s interior provides space for minimal furniture, including geometric desks and glowing table lamps framed by floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows.
      Find out more about Tini ›
      Photo is by French+TyeGarden room, UK, by Alexander Owen Architecture
      Yellow Valchromat MDF and birch plywood line the walls of this London garden room by Alexander Owen Architecture, which is defined by internal timber cladding.
      The small building offers a place to entertain guests while it is also used as a minimal home office during the week, featuring a built-in desk designed with the same wood as its boxy cupboards and alcoves.
      Find out more about this garden room ›
      Photo is by Gillian HayeWriter’s Studio, UK, by WT Architecture
      Designed to create the “sense of being almost outdoors”, Scottish firm WT Architecture added a glass writer’s studio to the garden of a Victorian villa in Edinburgh.
      Inside, the space was curated to provide an uncluttered working environment defined by serene blue accents and a petite wood-burner that nod to the idea of a peaceful retreat.
      A minimal wooden desk cantilevers over the studio’s lower wall, which is located next to a raised plinth that creates additional seating.
      Find out more about this writer’s studio ›
      Photo is by Rafael SoldiShed-O-Vation, USA, by Best Practice Architecture
      Best Practice Architecture transformed a storage shed into a backyard studio at a house in Seattle after the pandemic prompted increased working from home.
      Called Shed-O-Vation, the project features its original wooden black siding that mirrors the black synthetic rubber used to cover the floors and a portion of the walls inside.
      There is space for both working and exercising, with both a built-in green desk and a designated area to hang bikes.
      Find out more about Shed-O-Vation ›
      Photo is by Trent BellLong Studio, USA, by 30X40 Design Workshop
      30X40 Design Workshop founder Eric Reinholdt placed a barn-style home office on the grounds of his residence on Mount Desert Island, off the coast of New England in America.
      The interiors of the Douglas fir-lined architects’ studio are designed to be flexible, with an Ergonofis sit-stand desk and space for tables that can be moved around according to the day’s work.
      A gabled roof frames the space, which includes cosy loft-like platforms that can be accessed by ladders.
      Find out more about Long Studio ›
      Photo is by Simon KennedyGreenhouse extension, UK, by McCloy + Muchemwa
      A formerly dilapidated garage in Norwich, England, was transformed into a timber-framed greenhouse extension by architecture studio McCloy + Muchemwa.
      Designed to accommodate DIY and other hobbies during national lockdowns, the “orangery” has polycarbonate cladding and houses various amenities including a workbench and storage for power tools.
      The eye-catching orange framework that lines the extension’s exterior is repeated in its interior details such as a bright orange clock and table legs.
      Find out more about this extension ›
      Photo is by Chris SnookThe Light Shed, UK, by Richard John Andrews
      London-based architect Richard John Andrews designed the Light Shed to house his own studio, with black corrugated fibreglass cladding and a gabled roof.
      Built in just 21 days, the volume’s interior opens out onto Andrews’ garden with sliding doors that reveal space for two to three people to work below a utilitarian shelving unit.
      “The studio aims to create a flexible approach to work and play, flipping its function to become an entertaining space for summer gatherings and more intimate functions,” explained the architect.
      Find out more about The Light Shed ›
      Photo is by Andreas BuchbergerThe Enchanted Shed, Austria, by Sue Architekten
      A trapdoor leads visitors to a writer’s studio and playroom in The Enchanted Shed, a black-timber converted 1930s outhouse designed for a property near Vienna.
      Arranged over two storeys, the upstairs gable is glazed to provide treetop views, which mirror the varnished grey fir ceilings and walls. Spotlights illuminate the shed’s interior throughout, creating a tranquil hideaway for working or relaxing.
      Find out more about The Enchanted Shed ›
      Photo is by Tim Van de VeldeGarden Room, Belgium, by Indra Janda
      Simply called the Garden Room, this small building was designed by architect Indra Janda for the garden of her parents’ house in northern Belgium.
      Scale-like shapes formed from translucent polycarbonate shingles clad the volume and create playful shadows that are reflected in its interior. The furniture in the space includes a deep-red butterfly chair and a wooden table.
      “The material is semi-transparent, which is nice in summer and winter, and gives a totally different feeling from day to night,” Janda said of the structure’s statement cladding.
      Find out more about Garden Room ›
      Photo is by Wai Ming NgCork Study, UK, by Surmon Weston
      Local architecture office Surmon Weston created a cork-clad shared workspace for a musician and a seamstress in the garden of their north London home.
      The cubic structure features birch plywood furniture that cantilevers off the walls and forms twin desks for the couple, which are framed by playfully colour-coded chairs.
      A skylight throws natural light on the interior, diminishing the boundary between inside and outside space.
      Find out more about Cork Study ›
      This is the latest in our series of lookbooks providing curated visual inspiration from Dezeen’s image archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks showcasing basement conversions, open-plan studies and residential interiors illuminated by skylights.

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      Alexander Owen Architecture wraps London house extension in two types of marble

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      Alexander Owen Architecture has added a marble-clad extension and garden room to this Victorian mid-terrace in East Dulwich, London, to accommodate a home office and a well-stocked bar.The owners, a couple with three young sons, wanted a place to entertain and ample space to spend time together as a family.

      Top image: the garden room houses a bar and home office. Above: the kitchen extension looks out at the garden and annexe
      In response to the brief, the architects created a single-storey rear extension that adds 13.3 square metres and accommodates an open-plan kitchen, utility room and toilet, plus a 16-square-metre annexe that serves as a work and social space.
      Separated by a paved garden, the facade of the extension and garden room are clad in two types of precision-cut marble – a lighter version with hazier veining called Arabescato and a dark grey Bardiglio marble with a more structured finish.

      Alexander Owen Architecture clad the kitchen extension in different kinds of marble

      “We wanted to create a holistic flow to the house and garden and a certain mimicry between the extension and garden room as new interventions,” Richard Bridges and James Webster, founders of Alexander Owen Architecture, told Dezeen.
      “The marble cladding on the extension and garden room has been designed to have similar cut lines and panel formations but the arrangement of the two marble types is reversed.”

      The marble is cut so that it wraps seamlessly around the glazing frames
      The marble has been mitred around the doors and windows and digitally cut to create precise, 90-degree junctions between the individual slabs. This allows the cladding and the cut lines to seamlessly wrap themselves around the glazing frames.
      “The wider site context provides an abundance of trees and greenery, which as the day progresses cast an ever-changing array of light and shadow across the site,” said the architects, who both previously worked at Foster + Partners.
      “The final selection of marble was informed by this layering of dappled light on top of the veining, colouration and movement inherent to each type.”

      The kitchen is finished with stainless steel worktops
      A set of sliding doors with Accoya wood frames opens the kitchen and dining space up to the outside, while the garden room is glazed with a set of bi-folding windows and a pivoting door.
      Alexander Owen Architecture chose robust, low-maintenance surfaces for the kitchen extension, including a poured concrete floor, stainless steel island unit, shot-blasted pewter brick walls and a timber ceiling.

      Pewter brick walls are contrasted with timber ceilings
      “Each material was selected based on how it would sit against the other materials and its ability to sit in an almost ‘raw’ state – the very engineered precision and sheen of the stainless steel and geometric texture of the pewter blocks versus the natural, organic strength of the marble and warmth of the timber,” Bridges and Webster explained.
      “The palette tries to create a very calming balance between the organic and the engineered.”

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      The steel island unit also incorporates a bench seat for the dining area while a linear skylight lets in sunshine from above.
      The same black, wire-cut bricks that pave the garden are used on the floor of the annexe to create a seamless connection between indoors and outdoors. In the garden room, walls are clad in yellow Valchromat MDF and birch ply, as are the built-in desk, bar and storage cupboards.

      The garden room offers a “grown-up” space for entertaining
      According to the architects, who established their studio in 2013, the home’s layout is carefully divided into various zones tailored to the family’s daily routine.
      The utility room and toilet are located in the mid-section of the property so that the kitchen and garden room at the back can function as a peaceful, “grown-up” area that can be kept tidy for dinners with friends.

      It also houses a home office
      “The rest of the house can effectively be shut off, with the utility space playing a key role in storage,” said Bridges and Webster. “The family snug in the front part of the house means the owners can read books and listen to music on their record player while their children can watch TV or play in the other end of the space.”
      The garden room serves as a home office during the week and helps the couple maintain a boundary between work and family life. It also has an expansive bar that can be used for small gatherings.

      Bar seating runs along the bi-folding windows
      According to Alexander Owen Architecture, there has been a marked increase in clients wanting to create an office space in their home.
      “We have had a lot of interest in garden rooms since the start of the pandemic, with some new clients even prioritising this ahead of developing the main house due to the need for home working, schooling and simply more space,” explained the architects.
      “It’s undeniable the impact that the last 12 months have had, not only on how much time we spend in our homes but on how we use them as live-work accommodation.”
      Covid-19 has forced companies around the world to embrace remote working, with many predicting that working from home will be here to stay long after the virus has been brought under control. Last month Dezeen rounded up 10 products to improve your home-office setup.
      Contractors for this project were Create Bespoke and photography is by French+Tye.

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      Project #13 is an office for Studio Wills + Architects that doubles up as a home

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      Studio Wills + Architects has reconfigured an apartment in Serangoon, Singapore so that it accommodates the studio’s own office and a snug home for its founder.The home and office, which Studio Wills + Architects has named Project #13, is shortlisted in the small interior category of this year’s Dezeen Awards. It measures 64 square metres and takes over a 30-year-old apartment inside one of Singapore’s public housing blocks.
      Throughout the day it functions as a workspace, while in the evenings it serves as a home to the studio’s founder, William Ng.

      The office is on the left-hand side of the apartment

      “The design really started just as two distinct and autonomous spaces under one roof that can be used independently and/or interchangeably,” Ng told Dezeen.
      “One part eventually evolved as a home for me, as it minimises time spent commuting between work.”

      At the rear of the office is a tiled bathroom
      Although there wasn’t an abundance of space in the apartment, Ng and his studio first decided to section off part of the floor plan and turn it into a foyer.
      “It creates a ‘buffer zone’ between the public and private domains, and at the same time enables two separate entry points, allowing the spaces within to operate independently,” explained the studio.

      The foyer leads through into the right-hand side of the apartment, which includes a relaxed break-out area
      A door to the left of the foyer leads through the studio’s office, at the centre of which are two long work desks for staff.
      Set to the side of the room is a tall wooden volume that is integrated with storage and a tea-making station. There’s additionally a couple of shelving units for presenting architectural models.
      Towards the rear of the office is a kitchenette and a bathroom – complete with a shower – that is entirely clad with square blue-grey tiles.

      A wooden volume with in-built stairs leads to a mezzanine level
      During office hours, staff can spill over into the right-hand side of the apartment to work.
      It plays host to a relaxing lounge dressed with a plush, cream-coloured chaise longue and a lantern-style lamp that emits a warm glow.

      Up on the mezzanine, there is a contemplative tea room
      There’s another tall wooden volume, inbuilt with stairs that lead up to a mezzanine-level tea room where staff can escape for “quiet and contemplation”.
      They can also get a bird’s-eye-view of the office through an opening that has been inserted in the wall up here.
      Beyond the volume, there is an additional table and set of chairs which are used for meetings and another toilet.

      A wall opening by the tea room provides elevated views over the office
      These turn into domestic spaces for Ng after staff leave. Dinner can be enjoyed at the meeting table, the break-out area becomes a living room and the tea room serves as sleeping quarters once the seat cushions are replaced with a roll-out bed.
      Directly beneath the mezzanine there is also built-in storage for Ng’s clothes and dressing room.

      On the other side of the wooden volume is a meeting room, which can also serve as a dining area
      Ng told Dezeen that having work and home so closely interlinked has been particularly useful during the coronavirus pandemic when there have been national lockdowns, more commonly referred to as “circuit breakers” in Singapore.

      KCC Design creates monochrome office for own studio in former factory space

      “Before the circuit breaker, home was felt to be more within an office, but during the circuit breaker, it felt more like an office in the home; this was probably because the boundaries between the two shift and change with use,” he explained.
      “The dining/meeting room was a space for zoom meetings without interference from adjacent spaces; also, the foyer became a space where food deliveries and material samples could be left with no physical contact.”

      At night, the tea room transforms into a bedroom
      Studio Wills + Architects’ Project #13 is one of five small interiors shortlisted in the 2020 Dezeen Awards. Others include Single Person, a design gallery in Shanghai that’s designed to resemble a cave, and Smart Zendo, a family home in Hong Kong that’s fitted with voice-activated technology and space-saving furniture.
      Photography is by Khoo Guo Jie and Finbarr Fallon.
      Project credits:
      Architect: Studio Wills + ArchitectDesign team: Ng William, Kho KeguangC&S engineer: CAGA Consultants PteFitting-out contractor: Sin Hiap Chuan Wood WorksGeneral contractor: Wah Sheng Construction Pte

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      Eight home offices with stylish set-ups for remote working

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      The rise of coronavirus means a growing number of people are required to work remotely from their homes. Dezeen has selected eight inspiring home offices, including one that’s lined entirely with plywood and another that’s hidden inside an artichoke-shaped room. A Room in the Garden, UK, by Studio Ben Allen An artichoke-shaped garden room in […] More