Typing pool. Bullpen. Cubefarm. Dilbertville. The organization of office workers into open-plan office configurations has earned the derision of many an employee, social commentator, and cartoonist. And images of such open-plan office interiors are indelibly stamped on the contemporary imagination.
Who can forget the black-and-white photographs of rows upon rows of metal desks in cavernous rooms? How deafening was the clickety-clack of the manual, then electric, typewriters as the typists bore down on their keys? Or, more recently, the burlap-like upholstered panels forming cubes that fill each low-ceilinged, fluorescent-lit level of an office tower? No wonder the office underling’s greatest aspiration was to a management position and its status symbol: the light-filled, glass-walled, private office.
Through the decades, the basic rationale for installing open-office environments has remained unchanged: It’s the simplest, most cost-effective way to house workstations. “In an open-office environment, you can put more people in less space,” says E. Tim Carl, architect and vice president for Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Inc., an architectural firm in Minneapolis. “One of the smallest open-office workstations is six by six, but if you put someone in a private office that size, it’s too claustrophobic. You can, however, put people in open workstations that size without needing to lease, buy, or build as much real estate.”
At the same time, open-office environments provide the ultimate in flexibility, without additional cost. Furniture components can be easily disassembled, moved, and reassembled to ensure project teams have the right people in the right place at the right time.
However, the “cubefarm” has evolved from its origins in the late 1960s. Today, workstations are usually placed on the glass-walled perimeters of the building—giving the majority of workers access to daylight and views—with the few private offices that are still necessary located at the center of the floor space. And designers are offering workstations that may be trapezoidal in shape, or have panels of varying heights that are constructed of glass, acrylic, or metal mesh, or feature sound-absorbing canopies. Moreover, employees may spend most of their workday not at their workstation, but in a conference room, huddle room—a quiet area where two or three people can focus on a task—or lounge area, either working alone or with teammates.
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