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Working From Home Moves Into the Garden - The New York Times

With the work-at-home lifestyle likely here to stay, people are taking things outdoors, creating spaces meant for privacy and comfort.

This article is part of our Business Transformation special report, about how the pandemic has changed how the world does business. prefab garden office pod

In the Before Time of offices, there was front and back. Now it is home and garden.

When Priscilla Fernandes and her husband, Carl Ainsworth, moved into a new house in London in 2019, they planned on replacing its dilapidated shed with something prefabricated. Then came an idea: Replace the shed with an office.

Six months of designing and building later, with help from a neighboring joiner, their shed office was complete. It has a folding desk attached to the wall, a workbench for standing, two windows looking out on their garden in Bromley, electricity and an internet connection. There is an easy chair and, hanging on the wall, a bicycle.

“We needed separate spaces to work due to being in virtual meetings all day — we tried working at the dining room table together, and it just was not working,” said Ms. Fernandes, an architect who designs community buildings. “We have work-life separation between the house and the garden office. And it’s a space that both of us can use whenever required, say if we needed complete isolation for giving a presentation or concentrating on some work.”

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