“Work and its spaces”: a history of offices with multiple ambitions

It is a tertiary building whose work rooms are like an open space. Employees’ offices are full of news, you can work there like an architect’s desk. Employee well-being was conceived by the client and set to music by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. “Corporate” values ​​are engraved on the walls: “Generosity”, “Imagination”, “Cooperation”… Called the Larkin Building, this building was built in Buffalo (New York) in 1906.

in his creation Work and its areas, Jean-Pierre Bouches, director of research at the University of Paris-Saclays, offers to delve into the history of work and its spaces. It allows you to discover, as in Buffalo, the avant-garde designs that made history. This is the first case of non-permanently allocated offices and the concept of “non-territoriality” emerged on an experimental basis at IBM in the 1970s. In designing this flex-office Until then, we are already interested in the consequences of such an organization of space on the communication and work of teams.

While it emphasizes the precocity of certain spatial strategies, the book also shows how they are the result of a confluence of factors. They are advancing at the pace of innovation in construction and communication technologies. They are also and primarily driven by the managerial goals of entrepreneurs.

front line managers

Thus, work on brightness can be done for the purpose of social control. Mr. Buches cites the example of a building built in 1886 in Nebraska: “In addition to the glazed roof, the interior and exterior walls are decorated with large windows. » Thus, residents of closed offices are constantly exposed to the gaze of others. “Then only high-ranking officials have access to the office, which provides great privacy thanks to a private light source.”he says.

The history of places tells us about many ambitions, sometimes difficult to achieve. In this way, the book shows how difficult it is for flexible offices to deliver on all the promises they have to make. Real estate costs are certainly reduced, but at the same time “Increasing user collaboration” and “Improving comfort and well-being at work” they are “The demonstration is far from over[s] »The author notes.

The book then emphasizes that recent developments in offices are putting leaders on the front lines. Changes at work must be supported. In Flex offices, first of all, where possible“emotional vulnerability” Co-workers and the feeling that they are interchangeable. similarly, “Cooperation cannot be established”Reveals the author, who explains how the frame should have a leading role in open spaces.