The Residential Touch

I dare say residential design has held second place to commercial design for the longest time. Was it with a desire for acceptance that designer rooms emulating corporate starkness and uniform one-size-fits-all hotel design filled home magazines? Happily, the current versions of open interiors and warm artful spaces foster personal care and individual expression.

The ripple of change that returns coddling to residential design is transposing creature comforts into offices too. We have all recently endured lots of discomfort and the style setters in all design fields seem to be bearing in mind that human beings go through tough times.

An executive who’s been sitting at home, feather pillows behind the back, a lap top literally on the lap and snacks close by, wants to return to an office that offers a way to strategize in comfort.

In response, big office outfitters, like Steelcase, have collaborated with residential designers, like Tom Dixon and Moooi. We watched the walls come down between kitchen/ living/ dining rooms in residences. Steelcase’s open space design for Microsoft features a reception counter, coffee bar and lounge.

Instead of a small office for support staff, a coordination of desks, chairs, bookcase and lounge turns each person’s work area into a microzone. Space throughout a converted warehouse and you have collaborative flow, add a bed and this is a student’s room! Convert the eat-in kitchen and you equip a work-from-home Mom.

This new development in isolated work spaces delivers comfort and focus with full tech capability. The Brody office-in-a-lounge chair could sit anywhere.

Beautiful lounge chairs are key features of office settings. Top executives have long understood that the residential designer who knows them well will create a work setting that reflects their character. The level of style has always denoted the responsibility of the person.

Residential designers have been obliged to take a step forward when creating home offices. Integrated fullness characterizes the new home office, curated for high style.

Creating a beautiful area around the desk doesn’t necessarily take a lot of space. It takes an application of style.

The poles have shifted. Commercial design is emulating residential design in its orientation to human-ness. How will you outfit your work space to buffer the bumps of the day?