The purpose of this article is to start the journey towards a better and more human friendly home office. This is something that I’ve found to be surprisingly difficult to achieve.
We live in a fairly small two bedroom house. One of the bedrooms serves as our office. Currently, it is a usability nightmare. I’ve been thinking about purchasing a new desk for a while now, but none that I’ve seen seems to fit the bill.
The Current situation:
- our current messy office
All commercial solutions tend to fall into one of two categories. Either they are A: readily available smallish bundles of usability hell, forged of woodprint veneered particle board, or B: sold at Design Within Reach, which is oddly named because nothing they sell is anything of the sort. A better moniker: Design (that you, a mere plebe, aren’t allowed to own, so we’ll set the price-point) Just Out of Reach. I suppose there is a ‘C’ that is composed of IKEA stuffs - but unfortunately there’s no location near our home, and I wouldn’t buy something without checking it out in person at least once.
So what’s a student of architecture to do when nothing is commercially available that doesn’t either invoke aesthetic or financial heartburn? OH MY GOD THIS IS A DESIGN PROBLEM. Warm up SketchUp and break out the sketchbooks cuz I’ve got the two necessary and sufficient factors of creation:
A Will: comprised of an itch to create good design that solves problems.
A Way: comprised of a budget, knowing the right people, and a modicum of design talent.
Programming and functional criteria:
The first thing to do is to write a program (in the architectural sense). This can help to answer some basic questions that will inform the design, and keep aesthetic carts aft of function horses. Here are some simple needs that the office actually serves:
The office serves as a workspace for myself, and my girlfriend, Karyn. This is where we spend most of our time when we are home together, on our respective ‘puters.
My work tends to be mostly digital, but there are times when some layout space is necessary, so having an area to lay out at least a 24″x36″ size sheet is a must.
Karyn’s work tends to be digital as well, but sometimes she needs some layout space for a book or two. She also uses a small desk in the room as a vanity. The desk is beat-up and old, and would require some delicate veneer work to get the surface back in order, which is not worth pursuing, in my opinion.
A cedar chest holds out-of-season clothing, and some random things. This will be relocated.
Our cats’ work mostly entails getting between the arms and keyboard of any humans in the room. They require “layout” space in the window sills and love to circumambulate the chairs/desk/chest for important kitty purposes.
Material, lighting, and hardware choices:
With these functions in mind, choosing a suitable material isn’t too hard. Plywood is easy to work, and relatively inexpensive. In as much as is possible and reasonable, the same material (3/4″ ply, the best our budget will allow) will be used throughout.
Indirect lighting is something that we both enjoy - currently the lighting setup in the room is a glaring set of four naked bulbs in a fan in the center of the room that casts shadows on Karyn’s work, and shines directly into my eyes. Indirect lighting with some task-lamps should do the job much better, and be easier on our eyes.
Drawer pulls will be eliminated in as much as is possible, because I dig drawers that don’t require them.
The design process:
Some sketching on possible configurations leads to a simple design, wrapping around three walls of the room. The idea is something that can be flexible, and used in many ways as needs and technology change. Below is a first-draft of the new table design:
More info to come in future posts as the design matures, and construction gets underway!
