Lawrence Weiner sits at his daylit desk. The bare walls are perfect for tacking up new projects, and the steel ductwork gives the space an industrious feel.

Hour-long commutes. Flaky public transportation. The congestion of crowds. It's no wonder many folk choose to work from home these days.

Amidst the pedestrian-friendly maze of leafy streets in New York City’s West Village, LOT-EK, a firm whose designs focus on the creative reuse of industrial materials, inserted a gut-renovated…