Over the last decade there has been a shift of how people are choosing where to live. In the past you basically just lived where ever your job took you. Nobody would welcome the idea of traveling multiple hours per day to clock in. Depending on your city of employment this could be having to sacrifice living in a small downtown apartment to get the job you want. Today most companies practice telecommuting which provides their employees more options when it comes to their choice of residence.

The increase of telecommuters has more people living hundreds or even thousands of miles away from the company they are employed by. Their daily commute is often times not more than walking into a separate room of their house. This change in way people commute to work has resulted in some obvious changes in residential architecture.

Statistics have shown that 70% of people globally have worked from home at least some of the time. There a ton of people in different professions that have normally scheduled days each month where they will stay home and work from their computer. Combining these work from home statistics and high number of people self-employed have resulted in the increased number of houses needing home offices.

No longer are people just temporarily using the kitchen table or nook in the living room as their workspace. New houses are now being built with a separate flexible room that is designed to be used as a home office or bedroom. These rooms usually have increased lighting and plenty of space for furniture and decorations to keep people inspired while working from home.

Residential Architecture Inspired By Telecommuters

    • Detached Home Offices. One of the major growing trends is having a home office outside of the main house foundation. Think of this like a guest house but instead of living space it is where people work from. People are even turning the barns included in the yards of older houses into fashionable working space. The most common way of getting a detached home office is using a removal structure or small modular unit.
    • Resident Co-working Spaces. Private apartment communities have always had a high number of tenants working from home. One of the drawbacks of working remotely is the lack of socializing opportunities. Telecommuters in apartment complexes often choose to work in the common spaces of the community to socialize with neighbors. Residential architects are now including specifically designed co-working spaces within their apartment developments. These common area spaces have reliable and fast Wi-Fi along with ergonomic chairs and even separate quite conference rooms. Resident-only co-working spaces are now a huge trend in housing communities.

Not all telecommuters are equal. Depending on their occupation, the desires and needs could vary quite a lot. While some may highly prefer co-working spaces others must have that private peace and quiet. Architects are now adjusting their designs to include flexible spaces that cater to all kinds of occupations. The working from home trend is only going to grow larger so look for these designs to become more of the norm moving forward.