Open Plan: A Design History of the American Office

IF 0.7 3区 艺术学 0 ART
Petra Probstner
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引用次数: 6

Abstract

In this history of the American open plan office, Jennifer KaufmannBuhler, an Assistant Professor in the Rueff School of Design, Art, and Performance at Purdue University, takes the reader on a journey through the evolution of the open plan work space and work culture itself. To do this, she considers workers’ peripheral issues, such as benefit packages, family photographs on cubicle walls, and spare systems furniture parts; matters that might be considered mundane but here are used to illuminate workers’ everyday lives and, thus, organizational culture as a whole. By reflecting on the experiences of workers of different genders, races, and abilities, Kaufmann-Buhler shifts the viewpoint from the single, often idealized generic worker, to the embodied experience of a diverse array of individuals. In its early days, open plan office design was considered a panacea for the social, organizational, architectural, and technological problems of the office space. As Kaufmann-Buhler writes, advocates frequently described it as a “transformative solution to the problems of contemporary organizations, a solution that would upend organizational hierarchy, support communication, and facilitate rapid change” (165), giving workers agency over their space and control over their work process. This book’s purpose is not to reinforce or challenge this point, but instead to untangle key drivers of the evolution of the workplace and identify the pivotal systemic issues surrounding this design model. At the fore is the system’s idealization of users as a homogenous “knowledge worker whose body, identity, and opportunity were conceptualized as universal and excluding workers’ whose bodies, identities, or job classifications were outside of that ideal” (14). Open Plan takes a thematic approach to explore the ways in which the economic considerations, futuristic visions, and conceptual and technological changes driving open plan offices intersect with the lived experiences of workers who actually use them. Managing change is a central theme in the first two chapters of the book, which puts idealistic design intentions and actual results into sharp contrast. Kaufmann-Buhler argues that, despite the language of egalitarianism used by American architects, designers, and organizations who discussed the open plan office as a step towards equality within the workforce, the practical manifestation of space Petra Probstner is an Associate Professor in Interior Architecture at Columbia College Chicago. pprobstner@colum.edu © 2021 Petra Probstner DOI: 10.1080/ 17547075.2021.1996826
开放式平面图:美国办公室设计史
在美国开放式办公室的历史中,普渡大学鲁夫设计、艺术和表演学院的助理教授Jennifer KaufmanBuhler带领读者踏上了开放式工作空间和工作文化本身的演变之旅。为此,她考虑了工人的外围问题,如福利包、隔间墙上的家庭照片和备用系统家具零件;这些可能被认为是平凡的事情,但在这里被用来照亮员工的日常生活,从而照亮整个组织文化。通过反思不同性别、种族和能力的工人的经历,Kaufmann Buhler将观点从单一的、通常理想化的普通工人转变为不同个体的具体体验。早期,开放式办公室设计被认为是解决办公空间社会、组织、建筑和技术问题的灵丹妙药。正如Kaufmann Buhler所写,倡导者经常将其描述为“当代组织问题的变革性解决方案,一种颠覆组织层级、支持沟通和促进快速变革的解决方案”(165),赋予工人对空间的代理权和对工作过程的控制权。本书的目的不是强化或挑战这一点,而是解开工作场所演变的关键驱动因素,并确定围绕这一设计模式的关键系统性问题。最重要的是,该系统将用户理想化为同质的“知识工作者,其身体、身份和机会被概念化为普遍的,并排除了身体、身份或工作分类不在理想范围内的工作者”(14)。开放式计划采用主题方法,探索推动开放式办公室的经济考虑、未来愿景以及概念和技术变革与实际使用这些办公室的员工的生活体验的交叉方式。管理变革是本书前两章的中心主题,将理想主义的设计意图和实际结果形成鲜明对比。Kaufmann Buhler认为,尽管美国建筑师、设计师和组织使用了平等主义的语言,他们讨论开放式办公室是迈向劳动力平等的一步,但空间的实际表现Petra Probstner是芝加哥哥伦比亚学院室内建筑副教授。pprobstner@colum.edu©2021 Petra Probestner DOI:10.1080/17547075.2021.1996826
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
1.80
自引率
0.00%
发文量
34
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