Architect Alireza Ravanshad is the creator of Dandi Space, a whole new architectural approach to combining work and living space through smarter design. Here, he makes the case for challenging the traditional spatial divide between working life and home life.
One of the things that most excites me about the world of architecture is that it is constantly evolving.
Creativity and passion refuse to be halted, and as a result, visionaries around the world create buildings and spaces that push boundaries, question assumptions and force architects to reconsider how they work.
However, in today’s increasingly urban and overcrowded environments, architecture needs to evolve to meet the needs of modern city dwellers. London’s recent mayoral elections are evidence of this, being heavily focused on plans to enable the city to grow sustainably.
Of course, one person cannot hope to service the demands of a city with millions of inhabitants. So, the architect must break it down and focus on an individual issue that needs attention.
For me, this was the need for architects to design spaces that are better suited to cater for contemporary ways of working. In years gone by the home and the office were kept as two very separate entities. As a result, each was designed with a single function in mind, which means most homes are ill-equipped to serve as a workspace and vice versa.
This is no longer the case. Self-employment and working from home are on the rise so architects have to respond with intelligent solutions, even if that means reassessing traditional assumptions of commercial and residential real estate.
This shift prompted me to start considering ways to seamlessly combine working and living spaces while, importantly, retaining the individual characteristics of both a home and an office.
One way to create functional, attractive properties that can be used as both a home and an office would be to simply expand the surface area of the building. However, in overcrowded, overpopulated cities it is simply not logistically feasible or economical to do this, and designers and planning authorities now have a responsibility to manage space and budgets more carefully than they might have in the past.
These kinds of obstacles force one to think more creatively. In this context this meant thinking how to design a functional working environment within a home while ensuring that it is as
space-efficient as possible. I worked out that this could be done in a space as small as 30 m2 in total – and as a result the Dandi Space was born.
Adaptive approach
It is essential to provide an adaptive environment that caters for tenants’ changing requirements throughout the day, so we introduced modular technology and interactive products that allow a bedroom to be transformed into a kitchen/living room and then into an office.
Allowing occupants to pull out or fold away the furniture that they need means that they have complete flexibility over what kind of atmosphere they set. For instance, a desk can be folded out from the wall when necessary, but when the working day ends the user can literally ‘fold away’ their professional life and transform the area from an office into a home, pulling out a bar and an ottoman to settle in for a comfortable evening.
The approach has required a departure from everything I and my lead architect Eva Siskinova previously understood about architecture. Abandoning well-tested techniques can feel unnatural and it’s unsurprising that people are often reluctant to do so, but sometimes altering an approach can lead to some revolutionary developments.
It is essential to understand the motivations for change. In this case, why do people want to work from home? What do they need to be able to work flexibly? Once you have a clear idea of what you’re tackling, you are able to mould the development to provide as answers. For example, many people want to work from home to avoid the costs of renting an office space. Therefore, the solution is to ensure that the properties are affordable.
It’s also important to be mindful of working practices; those working in more creative industries need open space, so make sure that the working area is not restricted to just a desk.
The solution that was arrived at in Dandi Space was to develop the technology to allow the bed to be raised to the ceiling, where it then becomes a light fixture and frees up the floor space below.
Ultimately, we need to continually develop new, innovative solutions to meet changing workspace demands, and architects are applying their expertise to providing those solutions.
Alireza Ravanshad Founder Dandi Space