Laura Harding ponders the challenges and benefits of working from home, from the difficulty of switching off from work to more time for reading, well-curated social media and amazing architecture online talks.
What is your work-from-home space like?
What is its character?
Tiny, sunny, breezy, messy, dusty…
They really knew how to design apartments early last century…
There’s a building site across the street so I get a fair bit of dust from idling trucks on weekdays…
How does it connect to the rest of the house?
I live in a 27 square metre studio apartment. Everything is connected! My kitchen is my zoom background…
But living solo, it is not so much of a problem…
Except having the discipline to stop work at the end of the day if you are on a bit of a roll with things.
Was it carefully planned or hastily put together, or something in between?
I’ve always done a bit of writing from home, so it was thrown together for that… but it is comfy.
What have you done to make it comfortable and accommodating?
My desk is made of an epic recycled oak floorboard sample from a house I worked on, with remnant series legs from Josh Carmody.
My light is my most valued possession. It makes me very happy. It wouldn’t meet any WHS standards for lux levels etc, but I couldn’t care one bit…
Knitting is within reach for really long calls with no video 🙂
Where is it located?
In front of the window to the apartment.
What can you see from your workspace?
I look out over the street. Without that sense of connection to things still going on in the world I’d feel very remote and sad.
What work do you do here?
Still doing writing from here…
Now doing architecture too. Mostly fee proposals currently!
Did you work from home pre-COVID-19?
I did some writing from home previously on weekends and evenings, but I did not do any major architectural work from home – so this has been a change.
I don’t have my drawing board or sketching space, so printing out big and sketching not possible.
But I keep a sketchbook by the side for ‘little’ drawings in between the digital drawing…
Have there been benefits to working from home?
The biggest benefit is working without interruption.
I don’t have to answer the phone, or daily office chat/questions but I also miss the engagement of that too…
Air-conditioning-free environment is a huge plus!
What have been the biggest challenges so far?
I rent, so I don’t have a serious unlimited home internet plan and I tether everything through the phone…
My data usage quadrupled in the first week – downloading applications etc that I needed. Had to invest in a serious upgrade.
Internet not nearly as speedy as in the office…
Building site across the road with idling trucks is unpleasant…so I am getting more work done in the evenings and weekends when it is quieter…
Being remote from my substantial architecture library in the studio is also very painful, but I did manage to take a few precious, necessary tomes home with me for company.
What has been surprising? (either positive or negative)
How much you can eat when your desk is less than 2 metres from your fridge…
Have you discovered any tools (technological or otherwise) that have been particularly useful for remote working?
Slack conversations for chatting and dumb questions to colleagues (saves a full mailbox…)
We’re playing with MIRO for drawing/sharing imagery etc, while chatting remotely…
Do you have any tips for creating successful working relationships remotely? With colleagues, clients and others?
Maintain a sense of humour.
Maintain your free version of Zoom so that online meetings have a strict 40-minute limit – people are much more efficient and a short meeting is a good meeting.
Do not roll from one zoom meeting to the next. Program time in between to refresh and reset.
How are you managing the work/life juggle, and all the competing demands?
Much more easily than my friends with children! How people are even beginning to juggle work and home school is just mind boggling.
Biggest challenge for me is making a distinction between work and non work – between Monday to Friday and the weekend. To stop everything from merging.
How are you staying connected with work, friends and family?
Zoom drinks….but living solo I really hate drinking at home – it’s only ever something I do socially in groups. Being able to curate social groups without having to worry about ‘distance’ is quite liberating. There have been opportunities to catch up with people who have moved away – reconnect old teams and groups.
What strategies are you using to switch off from work?
Complete failure at this…but a flagging economy looks set to come to my rescue sooner rather than later… 🙁
What strategies are you using to lift your spirits and maintain mental wellbeing?
Trying to do some form of moderate exercise every day.
Reading lots of amazing books that are piled up and have been demanding my attention for months…
Knitting and tea…
Nanoblock sets…
Social media – a well-curated field of twitter friends brings endless hilarity, intelligence, communal garment-rending and welcome distraction…
Online talks – there are some AMAZING architecture talks online that normally I wouldn’t get to…
A plug for the Architecture Foundation series from London + The Architect’s Bookshop series curated by the irrepressible Adam Haddow. Everyone in Sydney should buy a book from him.
And everyone in Melbourne should buy one from Andrew Mackenzie at Uro!
Laura Harding practices architecture with Hill Thalis Architecture + Urban Projects, and is a highly regarded architectural critic and writer.
