Home Office

This home office responds to the space required for a young architectural practice, allowing limited future practice expansion and a work from home space for his wife. To keep business and home separate, the solution was the existing lean-to garage enabling connection with home rather than a garden based new build solution.

The concept was always to keep the essence of the lean-to garage space, a space that was not part of the day to day domestic life of the house. The exposed ply floor, painted exposed brickwork, exposed rafters to the new roof and full glazed doors using the original garage door opening giving a non-domestic aesthetic.

The relatively narrow space that wouldn’t fit a modern car has now been re-purposed for entirely different activities. The contractor economically built the long workstation and MDF shelves. A meeting table using an old drawing board catches the light coming through the glazed doors. At the opposite end of the office, there is ample room for storage and printers. All of these elements have been carefully designed so that a variety of activities can take place within the same space.

Light floods into the office through two north facing rooflights, which can be opened to allow ventilation during the summer, two windows and glazed doors. All of this natural light means electrical lighting isn’t need during the summer months. In winter, up-lighting mounted above the shelves washing the walls and soffit of the roof provides sufficient light.

Twin doors connect the office with the rest of the house, with sound kept separate so that work can continue when the family is at home.

The black painted wall functions as an as-yet-unscribbled giant blackboard.