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The workhome... a new building type?

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Holliss, Frances (2007) The workhome... a new building type? Doctoral thesis, London Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

This research is concerned with the hybrid building that combines dwelling and workplace (the 'workhome'). In the 1980-90s the 'live/work unit' emerged as an apparently new architectural type. It captured the imagination of marketers and urban professionals looking for alternatives to suburban living, presenting a design-led strategy for urban renaissance. However, home-based work and its associated building type have existed in England for hundreds of years. The building type has until now been nameless, which may have contributed to its lack of attention in architectural histories and classification systems. This thesis investigates a wide range of buildings that combine dwelling and workplace with three aims: to establish an identifiable building type with a continuous, traceable history, to explore the contemporary manifestation of this building type, in part through the development of a number of typologies and to contribute to the debate on architectural solutions and governance policy for this building type. Conventional architectural typologies tend to trace the development of mono-functional buildings. This dual use of buildings, even when documented in architectural drawings or social records, has generally been hidden. Research into this building type, in England from the medieval period to the twentieth century, suggests that there is a continuous presence of 'workhomes', some purpose-built and some involving adaptations of existing structures. Despite variations over time, place, economic activity and social class, trends can be noted in the layout, external features and patterns of use. This suggests that it is possible to devise a new lexicon of such buildings.

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