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Second skin commended: Co-working (with cats)

Words:
Michèle Woodger

Facture Architects' lockdown-inspired home office space was designed to reduce feline interference

Traditional homeworking (unfavourable) vs co‑working with cats (preferable) – all thanks to OSB.
Traditional homeworking (unfavourable) vs co‑working with cats (preferable) – all thanks to OSB.

Co-working (with cats) by Facture Architects Ltd

‘Working in an office is great: the chat, the comfortable chairs,’ begin our feline-friendly designers. But, in a lockdown environment, with offices out of bounds, ‘what happens when your colleagues become your cats, your office is your dining table and your new colleagues invade your personal space?’ This very real scenario is ingeniously addressed in an ergonomic OSB workspace for two professionals (which they actually built), placing a raising desk into that awkward space under the stairs where ordinarily you might find a fuse box, a couple of spiders and a mop

 

  • Photographs of the finished proposal in situ.
    Photographs of the finished proposal in situ.
  • The benefits offered by OSB: hot bed, toasty feet, acoustic insulation on the party wall and attractive cladding on the stairs.
    The benefits offered by OSB: hot bed, toasty feet, acoustic insulation on the party wall and attractive cladding on the stairs.
  • Colleagues are able to co-work harmoniously with cats, mice, spiders and Henry Hoover.
    Colleagues are able to co-work harmoniously with cats, mice, spiders and Henry Hoover.
  • The axonometric projection meets the Ikea manual.
    The axonometric projection meets the Ikea manual.
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Norbord SterlingOSB Zero sheets form the supporting elements. The facing is painted white, then brushed with steel wool to expose and celebrate the wood-fibre grain. OSB is further used to clad the party wall, the underside of the stairs, and underfoot – the voids filled with insulation to attenuate creaking noises and improve thermal comfort (‘toasty feet’). In a stroke of genius, ‘to entice the co-working cat away from the primary work station, sequestration of heat from the IT equipment is directed up into an OSB pocket for cat bed and relaxation area’.

The cats were not the only ones enticed; the judges were all inevitably smitten with kittens. The choice to focus on a small-scale project – as Connacher put it, ‘problem-solving an everyday scenario’ – was applauded. Sian praised the way ‘the proposals break down why, structurally and thermally, the use of OSB is appropriate’; Loftus praised the ingenuity of combining SterlingOSB Zero with Ikea products, resulting in a ‘bespoke solution without being high-end’. The charming drawings channelled an Ikea manual aesthetic with considerable clarity and wit. 

‘I like the way that it’s presented with humour,’ concluded Proctor.

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