The prospect of retirement doesn’t just signal the end of a career; it offers the chance to recalibrate and re-prioritize in life.
7 Strikingly Simple Workspaces
August 27, 2015
Desks are a magnet for clutter: mail, magazines, paperwork, post-it notes, and almost any other physical media. But at least these seven workspaces will retain their clean, simple design underneath the accumulation.
An Los Angeles art-lover and philanthropist built this tree house perched on a hill; the 172 square foot spaces features a desk and (on the opposite side) canyon vistas and views of downtown L. A. and the Getty Museum. Materials and craft play a significant role inside and out: the columns are Type 316 stainless steel – almost nautical grade. Floors and walls are walnut; windows are mahogany.
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Originally appeared in An Atypical Tree House
“A strategy of extreme density was required,” says Michael Chen of Normal Projects, who along with partner Kari Anderson handled the renovation of this Upper West Side apartment. An origami-like desktop unfolds to reveal a perforated-steel divider that allows the passage of computer cables hidden inside the office compartment.
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Originally appeared in Space-Efficient Renovation in New York
O’Neill Rose Architects designed each unit of this modern Queens compound based on the personality of the family member occupying it. Bright yellow and purple paints were used to add some vibrancy to the daughter’s desk area, one of the ways the architects tried to honor the personality of each inhabitant's space.
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Originally appeared in Three Unique Homes Fit Under One Roof for an Extended Family in Queens
This 1940s bungalow in Vancouver was transformed by its renovation; “The third floor was a brilliant second or rather third conversation that D’Arcy sketched out in minutes,” Waddell says of the playroom-office.
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Originally appeared in This Bungalow is Anything but Basic
Nobody ever said farming was easy, but the rewards of a homegrown harvest are great. On six acres of fertile land in the heart of rural Iowa, Geoff and Joanna Mouming mixed modern home design with a traditional way of life. From the office, a high window frames a view of the Moumings’ fields.
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Originally appeared in Farm Fresh
Cerebral architect Matali Crasset turned a stone farmhouse into a flexible, open environment for a Parisian jewelry designer and her many houseguests. Outfitted with Pollock desk chairs and a marble-topped conference table by Knoll, the office in Monory’s French farmhouse pays homage to international design. The Tizio task lamp is by Richard Sapper for Artemide, and the leaning John Ild bookshelf was designed by Philippe Starck for Disform in 1977.
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Originally appeared in Matali Crasset Renovates Monory Farmhouse
In Los Angeles, California, a family of four inhabits a polychrome fantasia in the heart of Chinatown. Formerly a restaurant, punk rock night club, and furniture warehouse, the Berniers’ loft is anything but boring. Unlike the ornate exterior, there wasn’t much interior detail left to reuse—but the family did their best. One of them says “There was a wall that had octagonal shapes in it that we took out, and when we rebuilt it, we kept the shapes."
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Originally appeared in Sun Mun Way Cool
An Los Angeles art-lover and philanthropist built this tree house perched on a hill; the 172 square foot spaces features a desk and (on the opposite side) canyon vistas and views of downtown L. A. and the Getty Museum. Materials and craft play a significant role inside and out: the columns are Type 316 stainless steel – almost nautical grade. Floors and walls are walnut; windows are mahogany.
Photo by Eric Staudenmaier.
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