Be at home in your office
| Working out of your home has its advantages and disadvantages. Here is
how to set up office in your home. |
Working from home has its advantages. No commuting hassles,
no dress code, no office politics and no boss looking over your shoulder.
No employee would give up a breather from the inconvenience
of being cooped up in a high-rise office from morning to evening with a bevy of
colleagues and clients clamouring for attention.
Freedom
Nothing beats the freedom of putting up your feet up and
listening to your favourite music album while giving the finishing touch to the
monthly work report. And you do not have to answer the stream of telephone calls
for your colleague who has gone out for tea.
While most lawyers and doctors have a home office to cater to
their clients, not every profession affords the convenience of operating from
home. Yet there are few professionals who do not take their work home at one
time or the other, be it the file pusher in a Government office, the software
programmer or the news reporter racing against a deadline or the researcher who
has to burn the midnight oil poring over mountains of academic data.
Working at
leisure
Working at leisure within the confines of one's home has its
drawbacks. Preparing a detailed financial analysis or a news report is not
something that can be balanced with household chores, boisterous children or a
stream of visitors. But employees who prefer to take their work home aver that
there are obvious advantages in having a home office or a study in your house or
apartment.
Designing and organising a home office require careful
planning for furniture, equipment, storage space, interior decoration, lighting
and layout. A cluttered workplace can drain your energy and drive away clients.
Creating an office room is best done at the time of designing the house. But for
those who did not know they would be working from home, it is possible to create
an office within the available space at a later stage.
Architects advocate a well-ventilated room secluded from the
rest of the house, with enough room for a desk and chair, a telephone line,
electrical fittings and power outlets for basic working equipment such as a
computer, fax, scanner or printer and adequate storage space for files, papers
and media devices like floppies and CDs. The home office should have a separate
entrance for clients. A constant stream of visitors through the living room
could be a serious intrusion into the privacy of other family members.
"A well-designed home office should be comfortable and
functional; it should allow you to be more productive and organised," says G.
Viswanathan, architect and interior designer. Designing a home office depends on
the requirements of the user.
"There are people who use the office for highly creative work
and others who indulge in less creative work that still requires them to be
mentally alert. For example, creative writing requires inspiration and deep
thoughts.
For this, the office has to be a large room, elevated from
the ground, preferably with a domed roof and a verandah overlooking the
neighbouring areas. A garden with a water body just outside the window would be
ideal. Large windows and a high roof will help the user to interact with the
space and enjoy it," says Mr. Viswanathan.
Interiors
"On the other hand, it is better to provide a small office
room for focussed scientific or research work. Focussed lighting and dull wall
colours like light beige, mauve or blue will help create the mood for serious
work," he says.
Seating is an important element in designing a home office.
Ergonomically- designed chairs with adequate support for the back and neck and a
comfortable table are essential features.
Most architects recommend the northwest corner of the house
as the ideal location for the workspace, though the southeast corner is also
considered good. Wooden shelves and storage facilities are preferred over metal
and other materials.
When home meets office
| While designing your `home office' ensure that the workspace gels with
the rest of the house |
Many of us may not have the luxury of possessing extra space
that can be devoted solely to our work. Hence, the need for a double duty space
- an area decidedly devoted to two or more endeavours.
Any kind of space can be utilised for a home office, from a
guest room to bedrooms, family rooms, storerooms to a library.
Home offices being very personal spaces will definitely be
influenced by individual tastes and preferences. Finally the design must
ultimately integrate with the home style.
Taking into consideration space requirements for the
accessories such as computers, desktops/laptops, printers, copiers, scanners,
fax machines, typewriters etc., and the storage requirements for files,
consumables and stationery, the basic layout has to be worked out.
Putting a file cabinet or printer at the opposite end of the
room from the desk does not make sense if these pieces of equipment are used
frequently.
Once the layout details are ironed out, the furniture
requirement and design can be dwelt upon. Built-ins are one of the best ways to
tailor a workspace to individual needs.
They can house electronic equipment and store files.
Fabricated out of many materials and fashioned in dozens of different decorative
styles, built-ins can be easily incorporated.
Styling should reflect the user. The storage unit can be a
sleek and contemporary unit elegant in a laminate or a traditional setup,
downright luxurious in wood.
One can also opt for a mix of these styles, what matters is
mood rather than strict adherence to a style's purity.
While a home office with contemporary styling can be stark
and pristine, it can just as easily be warm and elegant.
Today it is rare to find a home in just a singular style of
design. When it comes to contemporary design, there are no set rules.
Sleekly styled furnishings can set a contemporary tone or
pieces from various periods and cultures can be used together in a
groundbreaking way.
Courtesy: Property Plus, The Hindu
