"Even people who have home offices aren't using them anymore," said Karin Gintz, vice president of global marketing for Coalesse, one of several companies designing work-at-home furniture for the new Zeitgeist.

Work has invaded the rest of life even more thoroughly in the age of 24/7 connectivity, but that doesn't mean people like spending their evenings sitting at bleak desks in isolating home offices.

The most extreme example of this new family-friendly work concept is Moroso's Bikini Island, an array of mix-and-match modules that can be arranged into a sprawling installation marooned in the center of a room.

"The last thing people want at the end of the day is another office environment. They want to work with their family, in a space that looks and feels like home."

As the furniture industry has discovered, they'd prefer to work on soul-restoring sofas and cozy chaises specifically designed for mobile computing, in laid-back positions, integrated into family life -- admittedly preoccupied, but in the general vicinity of their children, however madcap those offspring may be.

Family members can lounge facing a variety of directions, ostensibly communing even as they're lost in their own mostly digital obsessions, said designer Werner Aisslinger:

"The father is emailing. The mother is meditating. The kids are downloading files, playing online games or texting. Everyone can find a corner on the island to do whatever he wants, but there's still a feeling of trying to be connected to others."

"We'll never be able to go back to a more analog world," said Mr. Aisslinger, the mastermind of Bikini Island. "Working at home digitally is just the reality now. Work is omnipresent. But, as designers, it's important to create an environment that's as positive and communicative and inspiring as possible."