Post Covid Pod

With the arrival of the Covid crisis, the work-from-home employment model is displacing the work-at-office model. The real estate entrepreneur is faced with the task of imagining new uses for newly available commercial office space. People talk about doing most of their work from home, coming into the office periodically. Now commuting at rush hour lengthens commuting times considerably while increasing stress. As well social distancing rules make for much lower densities than were typical in the open plan office:

By my arithmetic, the 6 foot radius mandated for Covid calculates to an open plan office density of 102 sq ft / person. On the other hand suppose you were to construct small self contained 'pods'. As shown for the four 'duplex' pods on the left, this calculates to a density of around 55 sq ft / person.

If you use the Manhattan office space benchmark of around $ 100 / sq ft / year, this amounts to a savings of around $5,000 per employee, all other things being equal.

Now from an amortization standpoint - if you run this through a TVM calculator where:

Payments = $400 / month

Future Val = $0

Annual rate = 5%

Periods = 60 months

you get a Present Value of $21,000. That is, if you were to pay $21,000 per office pod, actually $42,000 per duplex, you'd still break even in theory. On the other hand, in my discussions with lightweight panel manufacturers I believe the cost of panel fabrication is a small fraction of this amount.

The cost savings are by no means the only advantage. As can be seen in the pod interior, the pods come with a convenient place to rest as well as work in privacy and repose. The rest cove is covered with acoustic panels for a quiet, calming experience. An employee might commute to the office in the middle of the day on Tuesday, when transit is the least used. Then he stays at the office thru Thursday noon, at which point he commutes back home again during the time

transit demand is lowest. Its far less taxing to travel and then stay put for a day or two than to have to travel twice a day every day and at rush hour.

In the drawing above each duplex is 13 ft x 7 ft. They are modular consisting of small, flat, stackable panels which connect quickly using Lamello Clamex fasteners. The version shown is 9 ft high but could be lowered if need be to accommodate sprinklers, HVAC, and electrical. Duplex's can be grouped together to create walls or partition office space as desired.