Workhouse II

The WORKHOUSE research studio examines the emerging co-working space as an architectural type that is as politically, economically, and culturally charged as it is technical and tectonic. With technological advancements and changes in labor practices, the workplace was liberated from the domestic realm, causing a spatial, programmatic, and ideological schism. This strict delineation of office and house became a key concept of modernization that motivated architecture and urban design practices. Currently, there is a paradigm shift that reunites these two types, creating a gray zone between domestic and work. To investigate this gray zone, the WORKHOUSE research studio explores coworking–a phenomenon that is currently under intense critical evaluation, conversation, and experimentation, yet remains undefined architecturally.

In the context of the studio, co-working space is primarily understood as a programmatic concept with possibilities to produce the function and expression of a new building type, enhance architectural space through an understanding of the access economy, and create new value in contemporary society. Throughout the sequence, students research co-working case studies with unique programmatic collisions, travel to Japan to learn about differences in lifestyle and work culture, and develop a business proposal for a co-working space in Los Angeles. In the spring studio, students apply this research to design a new building that supports the ecology of relationships surrounding their proposals. Through an integrative process of research and design, this studio examines new possibilities for architecture to respond to contemporary conditions.