Work at home, home at work : building a bridge between private and public life

Abstract

There is an increasing number of people who have chosen for one reason or another to work at home. The current trend toward working at home due to the advances of technology (computers, fax machines) and changing family structures (both parents working, single parenting) will change the architectural expression of a home and such a change will also affect the neighborhood the home resides in. The thesis work that has been undertaken during this semester is to determine just what those changes and effects might be. Three levels of design investigation were attempted: Single-Detached Unit, Duplex Unit, Multi-Unit Attached. These three were basic examples that represent the broad spectrum of existing housing types. The variation allowed the investigation to identify the differences and particular issues that went along with each type when it underwent the conversion to a home-office. Existing buildings on an existing site were used as the vehicle for the design investigations. The site is in Cambridgeport, MA on a residential block in a typical neighborhood setting. The three building types were clustered together to study what would happen when a substantial number of home-offices existed on the same block. Currently, home-offices are scattered throughout neighborhoods confined to their own property lines. The hypothesis was that the density of home-offices could help form a community-oriented space that would improve the quality of community life in the neighborhood.