Working from home : We don’t need more space, we need SPACE

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted labour markets globally between 2020 and 2022 and the legacy of lockdowns has arguably changed our spatial perception forever. Information and communication technology, such as the rise of online video calls, allowed people around the world to fit office work into their homes on an unprecedented scale. In this chapter, we explore new insights this experience offers and how can we design future homes appropriately for increasing norms of working from home (WFH) without increasing the environmental impact of our homes. To do so, the chapter begins with key challenges identified in literature on WFH during and post COVID-19 pandemic. Then we offer an architectural perspective to explain why the solution doesn’t necessarily demand the creation of more space to accommodate office work at home and we articulate these alternative designs in relation to Social, Physical, Affordances, Context and Emotional considerations (SPACE)