Small spaces can still reap big rewards. A cleverly positioned desk facing out into the garden for a welcome dose of natural light – or views across the city – can have an invigorating effect. This Victorian warehouse conversion on Great Eastern Street, with its warm walnut wall panelling and exposed brickwork, makes the best of its natural light, for instance, while a spare bedroom-cum-living space in this split-level apartment behind Broadway Market serves as a home office that’s well connected to the rest of the home. Meanwhile, an atrium keeps things airy and light in the award-winning Foley House in Bermondsey.

For those with busy minds and even busier schedules, a simple space with few distractions can be just the answer for a smooth working day. If room to think is what you crave, you couldn’t go wrong working out of a white, double-height artist’s studio in this former Victorian laundry. Meanwhile, plentiful Crittall glazing hugging an internal courtyard allows daylight to flood this smart conversion by architect Stuart Hatcher, who gutted a former mechanic’s garage over in Bow. For a pared-back palette that will keep you focused without feeling too stark, a birch plywood-panelled prefabricated penthouse extension of a 1970s house in Hoxton with superlative views across east London is hard to beat.

If something a little more dramatic is what you’re after, then the Art Deco Wallis Building is certainly theatrical inside and out. One of the bedrooms in the penthouse apartment has been given over to a home music studio, but could easily accommodate lines of bookshelves and a roomy desk instead. If all you need is a laptop, plenty of light and easy access to the fridge, then the first-floor apartment in Romney Court, a modernist block in Belsize Park, is just the ticket – the 1960s space still has many of its original features, lovingly restored by architect Adrian Manea. Finally, the striking Beaux Arts building off the Holloway Road conceals a contemporary apartment where you can knuckle down in the spacious flagstone-floored kitchen or pull up a comfy chair on the mezzanine above the living room to make the most of the sizeable glazing.