HOME-BASED TELEWORK

Advances in computer and telecommunications technology are making it increasingly feasible for information workers of all kinds - from architects to stockbrokers - to do much of their work at home. They can already make use of the telephone, fax machines, personal computers, the Internet, electronic mail, and the World Wide Web to provide communications, access to data, and software tools. But this is just the beginning. In the near future, faster and more pervasive digital telecommunications infrastructure will support low-cost videoconferencing, vastly increased access to worldwide collections of textual, graphic, audio, and video data, and much more sophisticated interfaces. Electronic banking, commerce, library, and other services will continue to develop at a rapid rate. And more and more organizations will present themselves to their customers and clients through sophisticated, highly interactive online sites.

It is unlikely that all employers and employees will see advantages in home-based telework. But many will, and the practice is likely to increase. From the employee's viewpoint, it can allow greater freedom to choose and personalize daily work environments, opportunities to work in more interesting and attractive surroundings, opportunities to maintain closer daily contact with family members (particularly small children, and the aged and infirm, who require continual care), and opportunities to work despite illnesses and injuries that impair mobility. From the employer's viewpoint, it can expand the pool of available skilled labor by reducing the need for proximity to centralized workplaces, and it can reduce capital expenditures and operating costs by shifting the responsibility of providing workspace to the employees. From a broader economic perspective, it can reduce commuter travel and its associated costs, and it can perhaps allow more efficient labor markets to develop.

The most obvious and mundane consequence of home-based telework is a decrease in the amount of centralized office space and an increase in the sizes of homes as they begin to incorporate workspace. Within the home, there are new requirements for privacy and servicing of the work areas - particularly when video is introduced. Lighting and acoustic conditions must be appropriate. And the circulation system may need to be rearranged if the home workplace requires direct connection to the street or other public areas - as, in many cases, it will.

Communities of home-based teleworkers are likely to need some semi-public, shared work areas in addition to the private areas within individual units. These could include meeting rooms that can be reserved as needed, print and copy services (much like Kinko's), and pick-up/drop-off points for package delivery.

In addition, there are some implications for the quality of space. When home-based telework is motivated by a desire for a more pleasant and attractive work environment, it is obvious that the home work area cannot be relegated to some small, dark corner. It must be designed to take maximum advantage of whatever views, microclimates, and cultural connections the site has to offer.

There is, of course, a potential social disadvantage to home-based telework; employees lose opportunities that the traditional workplace provides for meeting co-workers face-to-face, and for the kinds of informal social interactions that take place in the corridors and around the coffee machine or the copier. For this reason, centralized workplaces are unlikely to disappear entirely. Workers are likely to divide their time, in some proportion, between the home workplace and a modified form of centralized workplace - probably one that emphasizes meeting spaces, group work areas, and "hotel" office space rather than private office cubicles.

On the other hand, there are some very interesting potential social benefits. Since fewer people commute to distant workplaces, residential areas gain higher daytime populations. These populations can support services such as cafes and restaurants, daycare, and health clubs. Opportunities for social interaction within the neighborhood potentially increase. Perhaps there is a chance to recreate (in new form) the sort of close-knit, 24-hour urban fabric that existed in the past, when homes and workplaces were less separated than they are today.

In summary, the task of designing for home-based telework requires the invention of new unit types that appropriately integrate workspace, the definition of necessary service facilities, meeting spaces, and public areas, and ultimately the creation of a new type of urban neighborhood that draws its vitality from the daytime presence of those who would otherwise be away at work. And, in this particular context, it must all be done in a fashion that is appropriate to the social and economic conditions and cultural traditions of Lisbon.

Since the conditions needed for home-based telework are just beginning to emerge, there are few direct precedents to draw upon. Our task, in this project, is to generate some interesting possibilities for the future and to demonstrate the architectural and urban forms that these possibilities can yield.

William J. Mitchell
Cambridge, October 13th 1997

Related sites:
City of Bits by W.J. Mitchell