A Model of Smart Working Module in Adaptable House

The purpose of this study is to present a systematic design process of adaptable houses for deriving smart working modules that integrate space with technologies that support people working from home and quantify the properties of designed models, thus presenting more effective alternatives. Existing adaptable houses have been designed based on the intuition of designers, which resulted in models containing limited technologies. The COVID-19 triggered a sudden uptake in working from home, but people worked in an uncomfortable space. Although alternatives were suggested to improve home workspace, they were not reasonable enough and did not go beyond using home appliances and furniture in a fixed space. Therefore, this study intended to present a systematic design process and its models that can meet requirements in improving residential space environments for working from home. The adaptable house planning process is composed of five stages: the ‘Need Analysis,’ ‘Design Strategy,’ ‘Building Architecture,’ ‘Design Tactic,’ and ‘Detail Design’ stages. The ‘smart working module model’ derived through the adaptable house process has four properties: ‘components’; ‘components relationship’; ‘spaces’; and ‘spatial relationship.’ The details of components fall into two categories: physical and digital elements. The three instances are quantitatively presented after being systematically designed using the adaptable house process and the properties of its models. The validity of the derived instances was tested through in-depth interviews with experts, and final models are presented. This study has derived adaptable smart working modules which integrate physical and digital technologies in interior residential space from an adaptable architecture concept.