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Suburban Revolutionaries (Part 2)
The NINE principles of the Home-Office Paradigm
1 From 'Industrial' to 'Information'
In the past ten years, the number of people that are working from a home-base has risen dramatically. More than 40% of homes in the US have some part of the house allocated for activities to do with work related or business activities.
So where is this drive to the home-office coming from?
The fundamental driving force of the Home-Office is the technology that shifts society from the Industrial Age to the Information Age. Computer technology makes it easier to process information and information technology makes it easier to stay in touch. The phone companies have advertised ‘stay at home and keep in touch’ for many years and the phone is the fundamental tool that links people and makes the Home-Office feasible.
But is the home-office a new thing?
If we looked solely at the idea of having an office in the home, yes, that’s a new thing.
Given that offices were only created just over 100 years ago that is a new twist. However, if we look at the pattern as being one of reuniting the home and the workplace, this is not so new. This was commonplace throughout the Middle Ages. Around this time, most people either worked in the fields or they were artisans making a wide range of homemade and handmade products in their homes. (Today’s cottage industries derive from this.)
If we look at the pattern of the Middle Ages as the Agrarian Age focussed on agriculture, then the separation of home and workplace can be seen as a creation of the Industrial Age. Today, the return of the workplace to the home fits the context of the Information Age. The term ‘Home-Office’ clearly describes the modern equivalent of the Middle Ages artisan working from home.
Within this framework there is a strong suggestion the current trend is not a passing fad. We may be at the beginning of a total revolution in the relationship between the place of work and the place of living.
2 From ‘Physical’ to ‘Mental Work’
How do you tell if someone is working or not?
If a road worker is leaning on a shovel is he working? Maybe and probably not.
The basis of the Industrial Age is ‘physical work’. Typically one can see whether an employee is working by observing their actions. You can literally see if they’re getting the job done.
If an office worker is leaning back in their chair with their eyes closed, are they working? Maybe.
The Information Age is all about information processing, which is one way of describing office work. Information based work is ‘mental work’.
The difficulty of managing workers in information based work is that you cannot see if a worker is doing anything. An employee who leans back in their chair with their eyes closed may be clarifying an idea that could save a large company millions of dollars. They may also be thinking about their upcoming holiday or they may be sleeping.
The implication of this transition goes way beyond the mere management of a team of workers. It brings into question the nature of work itself and from an architectural viewpoint, ‘what is the best environment to promote the best work?’
3 From ‘Specialist’ to ‘Generalist’
There is an old joke that describes a ‘specialist’ as someone who knows lots and lots about very little, whilst a ‘generalist’ knows very little about lots and lots. The paradox of being both a specialist and a generalist in your approach and your expertise is fundamental to running a home-based business.
One needs the generalized skills and expertise of marketing, book-keeping, answering phones, planning, etc. in doing the daily actions. Whilst in the area of business expertise, ongoing and up-to-date specialized knowledge is critical. The use of consultants and the outsourcing of services provide access to specialist expertise that is not needed everyday and this is often the niche that works for home-based business people in generating their business.
In terms of the design of the physical environment this paradox seems to have been dominated by the ‘specialist’ in recent years.
The idea of ‘commuting’ to a workplace grew out of the Industrial Revolution. At a similar time, there was a shift in the design of houses.
During the Middle Ages, it was common for artisans to work from home. Their houses were typically an open plan with a series of alcoves off the main room. The dining table in these houses may have been used as a workbench during the day, a place to sleep at night as well as a dining table.
During the Dutch Renaissance, merchants began to use the front rooms of their homes for work and soon the house became divided into two. The front rooms of the house became public areas used for business, whilst the rear and upper areas remained private. This was a forerunner to ‘specialist rooms’.
Later in France, the bedroom was ‘invented’ where an entire room was devoted to the bed. Today, we are accustomed to the luxury of devoting entire rooms, and usually 2, 3 or more, to a bed that is slept in for upto a third of the day. For the remaining time, this room is rarely used.
This idea of specialized rooms parallels the shift to specialized furniture. During the Middle Ages, a common role for a personal assistant or servant was to carry the master’s personal seat. For a king this may have required 4 people to do the carrying. Specialized furniture, such as beds, that are used for a solitary function, are also an invention of the Industrial Revolution.
The timing of specialized furniture and rooms parallels the shift to commuting to an external workplace. In terms of designing a home-office for today’s market many prefer to stick with the traditional ‘separate office’ under the same roof of the home.
The option of overlapping functions is a clear alternative. This may be as simple as having an ‘office in a cupboard’ with a desk and computer within a cupboard-like space that can be opened for times of work and closed when not in use.
A new balance on the paradox of the specialist and generalist may be the future of your home-office.
Previous (Part 1) • Next (Part 3)
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