Brooklyn hotel bedrooms converted into offices for remote workers

Brooklyn's Wythe Hotel has teamed up with workplace designer Industrious to create rentable offices in its guest suites to cater to those who are working from home during the coronavirus pandemic.

With many offices still closed due to the city's coronavirus lockdown regulations, the Industrious at Wythe Hotel project is intended to offer remote workers with access to flexible, clean and well-equipped workspaces.

Available for rent by the day, each office is located in one of the Williamsburg hotel's former loft-style bedrooms with access to a private outdoor space. They are designed to cater to up to four people with Wi-Fi, access to printing services and a smart TV.

Bedroom furnishings are replaced by sit or stand wood desks and rexford chairs from furniture rental provider Feather, and black metal table lamps.

The finishes complement the room's industrial aesthetic of exposed concrete floors and brick walls.

"Together with Industrious, we are offering remote workers a safe and comfortable place to be productive and escape the confinements of their apartments for a moment," said Wythe Hotel owner Peter Lawrence.

Industrious at Wythe Hotel provides an example of the way that traditional working lifestyles could be disrupted following the pandemic.

In its earlier stages, Dezeen editor Tom Ravenscroft said "the great work-from-home experiment" would mean remote working would no longer be unusual.

"The companies that best navigate the future of work are going to be the ones that put choices in their employees' hands, including the choice of where and how they do their job best," said Industrious co-founder Jamie Hodari.

"At Industrious, we think this is just one example of the types of innovation you'll begin to see in our industry and beyond."

Other architects and designers have similarly forecasted ways that offices will change. British interior designer Sevil Peach said they will get smaller, while Form4 Architecture co-founder Paul Fero believes that cubicles will become more prevalent.

Perkins and Will interior design director Meena Krenek said offices will balance "physical and virtual" work and proposed physical spaces for meetings and large gatherings. Global firm Woods Bagot also created diagrams of workplaces during coronavirus that merge working from home and office.

Wythe Hotel has made the office spaces available until 31 August. The boutique hotel provided accommodation for medical workers from Woodhull Hospital in Bushwick and NYU Langone Hospital in Sunset Park during the height of the city's pandemic, an experience it said has enabled them to develop safe practices.

"By working in collaboration with doctors and nurses on-property during the shutdown, our staff is well-equipped to ensure that all guests are staying in a healthy environment," it said.

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