Sliding Walls Transform This Tokyo House Into an Office

Working at home can be tricky at times -- especially when your workstation winds up being your dining room table or living room couch (ahem...), but Japanese designer <a href="http://yukoshibata.com/contents/project/index.htm" target="_blank">Yuko Shibato</a> has inspired us with this transforming Tokyo home office. By incorporating two movable walls in two different rooms, Shibato has created built-in storage space that also works to separate home and office life. Dubbed "Switch", the project can transform from an office to a home simply by sliding a wall.

Space is created for various activities by moving two different walls in the Tokyo apartment.

The library is open in the meeting room when the wall is slid out and a larger meeting space or dining room becomes available when the wall is slid shut.

In between the bedroom and the work room is a swinging bookcase.

When the bookcase opens, a quiet workspace is created and accessed via a square portal.

The swinging door effectively cuts off the private bedroom behind it.

Here as seen from the bedroom, the swinging bookcase door is closed.

When the bookcase is open, a private space is available for reading, research or quiet meetings.

When the bookcase door is closed and work is done, the bedroom enjoys a larger space and more light.

Here the work room is brightly lit with three work stations (one is out of the picture).

A diagram depicting how the moveable wall in the meeting/dining room transforms the space into a library and meeting room.

A diagram depicting how the swinging door creates extra office space in the bedroom.

The floor plan before and after the home office renovation.