Tight on space? Roll out your home office - and back in again
After the corona, hybrid work has moved into private homes to stay. Home offices are now a permanent and integrated part of many homes, which can easily create challenges in apartments with few rooms.
The US home design company Ori Living may have the solution and is ready to roll it out in your living room as well: A convenient office set-up on wheels ready to roll out and back in again via a push button.
The living room part contains shelves and a TV wall with a flat-screen, and the office part consists of two workstations: A desk with an office chair and space for a couple of PC monitors, and on the opposite wall, a standing desk option.
After the end of working hours, the office module is pressed back into place and transformed into a stylish TV wall unit, which with a depth of just 85 cm, becomes a natural part of the living room.
Separating work and personal life
"We targetted to create an elegant, flexible and practical space solution for all of us who switched from one day to the next to work or learn from home," Ori Living founder and CEO Hasier Larrea says.
"Home offices often make us feel like hard to get away from work. Our Pocket Office is a refuge where you can focus on your work, then 'close shop' and return to your personal space and privacy."
  Ori Living's stylish and convenient Pocket Office makes it easy to separate work and home life: At the same time, it ensures an efficient work approach and preserves the touch of relaxed well-being in the home environment after working hours. |
Ori Living's stylish and practical office solution makes it easy and convenient to separate work from home life in the private residence. At the same time, it ensures an efficient work approach and preserves the touch of relaxed well-being in the home environment after working hours.
The rolling Pocket Office module is currently available in two sizes: A medium model with a wall length of 183 cm and a large model of 244 cm.
Declining
The recent figures, however, show that the hybrid and homework of office employees in the US labour market is declining one year after most covid restrictions phased out.
According to a current survey, 35% of employees enabled to do their job outside their physical offices are, right now, working full time from home. In January, the quote was 43%, 55% in October 2020 and just 7% before the pandemic.
 The living room part contains shelves and a TV wall with a flat-screen - the office part consists of two workstations: A desk with an office chair and fine space for a couple of PC monitors, and on the opposite wall, a standing desk option. |
Conversely, in the same survey, the proportion of office workers who can complete work tasks from the home office but choose to participate in new hybrid workflows increased from 35% in January to 41% in February 2023.
In London, one in five office employees still works from home after the pandemic, while four out of 10 are hybrid workers and enter their physical office at least one day a week. ●
Read more:
Oriliving.com: A fun office to living room transformation (video)
Businessinsider.com: Expandable apartment systems latest twist on tiny homes
Forbes.com: Full-time remote work is falling but still five times pre-pandemic levels
CNN.business.com: The latest on hybrid work - who is WFH and who isn’t
