Measures of Central Tendency: Mean, Median and Mode
Raffles Institute_Hystory of Office Design
1. DESIGN STUDIO 3
TERM: April 2013
LECTURER: SANDRA DRASKOVIC
EVOLUTION OF OFFICE SPACE
&
CHANGING ATTITUDES TOWARD WORK
2.
3. LITERATURE AND READINGS
WWW platforms:
http://workawesome.com/office-life/office-designs/
http://www.businessinteriors.co.uk
http://www.officemuseum.com/photo_gallery_1890s_ii.htm
4. Small office such as a bench in the
corner of a small business (small
office/home office) through entire floors
of buildings up to and including massive
buildings dedicated entirely to one
company. In modern terms an office
usually refers to the location
where white-collar workers are
employed.
WHAT IS AN OFFICE?
9. Blue collar and white collar are occupation
groupings. BLUE COLLAR does skilled labor and
physical labor. WHITE COLLAR wears suits and
ties and does the office and managerial stuff
(better working conditions and you get paid
more).
The term WHITE-COLLAR worker refers to a
person who performs professional, managerial,
or administrative work, in contrast with a BLUE-
COLAR worker, whose job requires manual
labor. Typically, white collar work is performed in
an office or cubicle.
11. The word stems from the Latin OFFICIUM
which referred to often mobile 'bureau'
two thirds of people spend
their working lives in offices
of one sort or another
12. The relatively elaborate Roman
bureaucracy had offices in classical
antiquity as often part of a palace
complex or a large temple.
There was usually a room where scrolls
were kept (storage) and scribes
(writing) did their work.
FIRST OFFICE SPACES – Roman period
13. ROMAN SCRIBES
From Latin word scribae was
a public notary or clerk.
The public scribes were the
highest in rank of the four
prestigious occupational
grades.
They were writing
treaties (contracts)
and edicts (public
documents).
14. ROMAN SCRIBES
In ancient Rome, the
scriba (Latin, plural
scribae[1]) was a public
notary or clerk (see also
scrivener). The public
scribes were the highest in
rank of the four prestigious
occupational grades
(decuriae) among the
apparitores, the
attendants of the
magistrates who were
paid from the state
treasury.
A Roman Scribe Writing Dispatches
15. Pre–Industrial Revolution
The High Middle Ages (1000–1300) saw the rise
of the medieval chancery (middle age
office), which was usually the place where
most government letters were written and
where laws were copied in the administration
of a kingdom.
The rooms of the CHANCERY often had walls
full of pigeonholes (book shelf), constructed to
hold rolled up pieces of parchment for
safekeeping or ready reference.
17. Late Medieval Court of Chancery, 1424–1529
Medieval
chancery in the
form of court.
The
word chancery
is from French,
from Latin, and
ultimately refers
to the lattice-
work partition
that divided a
section of a
church or court
20. Pre–Industrial Revolution
•Pre-industrial illustrations such as paintings or tapestries
often show us personalities or eponyms in their private
offices, handling record keeping books or writing on scrolls of
parchment. Books were read or written in the same space at
the same desk or table, and general accounting and
personal or private letters were also done there.
•Geoffrey Chaucer (English novelist) appears to have first
used the word “office” in 1395 to mean a place where
business is transacted.
•Before the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th century and
19th century most people worked as farmers. Only a small
minority worked in industry.
21. Pre–Industrial Revolution
•Before the invention of the printing press and its
distribution there was often a very thin line between a
private office and a private library since books were
read or written in the same space at the same desk or
table, and general accounting and personal or private
letters
22. Pre–Industrial Revolution - Renaissance
•As mercantilism (Mercantilism is the economic
doctrine that government control of foreign trade is of
paramount importance for ensuring the military security
of the country) became the dominant economic
theory of the Renaissance, merchants tended to
conduct their business in the same buildings, which
might include retail sales, warehousing and clerical
work.
•During the 15th century, population density in many
cities reached the point where stand-alone buildings
were used by merchants to conduct their business, and
there was a developing a distinction between church,
government/military and commerce uses for building
27. Industrial Revolution
•The Industrial Revolution was the transition to
new manufacturing processes that occurred in
the period from about 1760 to some time
between 1820 and 1840.
•This transition included going from hand
production methods to machines, new
chemical manufacturing and iron production
processes, improved efficiency of water
power, the increasing use of steam power and
development of machine tools.
28. Industrial Revolution
•The Industrial Revolution (18th and 19th century)
brought the rise of banking, railroads, insurance,
retailing, oil, and the telegraph industries. An
increasing large number of clerks (white-collar
worker who conducts general office tasks ) were
needed to handle order-processing, accounting,
and file documents, with increasingly specialized
office space required.
•Most of the desks of the era were top heavy with
paper storage bins extending above the desk-
work area, giving the appearance of a cubical
and offering the workers some degree of privacy.
29. Industrial Revolution
•First multi-story buildings,
which were limited to
about 10 stories until the
use of iron and steel.
•The Temple Building, built
in 1895, was one of the first
skyscrapers and the tallest
building in Toronto
30. Industrial Revolution
•The Home Insurance
Building, Chicago, 1890
•By the end of the 19th
century, larger office
buildings frequently
contained large
glass atriums to allow light
into the complex and
improve air circulation.
31. Industrial Revolution
•The invention of the
safety elevator in 1852
by Elisha Otis saw the
rapid escalation
upward of buildings.
• By the end of the
19th century, larger
office buildings
frequently contained
large glass atriums to
allow light into the
complex and improve
air circulation.
Larkin Building, N.Y,
1903–05 (Frank Lloyd Wright)
32. Industrial Revolution
Office space from 18th
Century specialized to
meet needs of growing
working activities such as
processing, accounting,
and file documents.
40. Taylorism (ca. 1904)
•American engineer Frederick
Taylor (American mechanical engineer
who sought to improve industrial
efficiency) was obsessed with efficiency
and oversight and is credited as one of
the first people to design an office space.
•Taylor crowded workers together in a
completely open environment while
bosses looked on from private offices,
much like on a factory floor.
01
42. 01
With his “Johnson Wax” office complex,
Frank Lloyd Wright aimed to create an
architectural “gesamtkunstwerk”
Taylorism (ca. 1904)
43. 01
Office interior of Frank Lloyd Wright’s
Johnson Wax Building
Taylorism (ca. 1904)
44. The Austrian Post Office Savings Bank
(Die Österreichische Postsparkasse)
Otto Wagner, 1906
01Taylorism (ca. 1904)
45. The Austrian Post Office Savings Bank
(Die Österreichische Postsparkasse)
Otto Wagner, 1906
01Taylorism (ca. 1904)
46. This layout was rooted in the work of industrial
engineers and efficiency experts such as Frederick
Winslow Taylor and Henry Ford.
01Taylorism (ca. 1904)
47. Bürolandschaft (ca. 1960)
•The German "office landscape" brought
the socialist values of 1950s Europe to the
workplace: Management was no longer
cosseted in executive suites.
•Local arrangements might vary by
function, side-by-side workstations for
clerks, typists, engineers or pinwheel
performed repetitive functions,
arrangements that make chatting easier,
but the layout stayed undivided.
02
48. Bürolandschaft (ca. 1960)
•Typical designs used contemporary but
conventional furniture which was available at
the time. Standard desks and chairs, with
lateral file cabinets, curved screens, and large
potted plants used as visual barriers and space
definers.
•Floor plans frequently used irregular geometry
and organic circulation patterns to enhance
the egalitarian nature of the plan.
•Many designs used slightly lower than normal
occupancy density to mitigate the acoustical
problems inherent in open designs.
02
49. Bürolandschaft (ca. 1960)
• The German "office landscape" brought the
socialist values of 1950s Europe to the
workplace:
1.Management was no longer cosseted in
executive suites.
2.Local arrangements might vary by function:
side-by-side workstations for clerks or pinwheel
arrangements for designers, to make chatting
easier, but the layout stayed undivided.
02
53. Bürolandschaft (ca. 1960) 02
•The sea of cubicles, likely enhanced by some
fancy matte painting, speaks volumes about
modern corporate life.
•The idea of the Action Office is to create an
environment where creative people can
interact with each other more freely.
•However, there is a trend to do away with the
cubicle and just give workers a place to set
their laptops; no walls, no personal space, just
completely open.
57. ACTION OFFICE (ca. 1968) 03
•First introduced in 1964 as the Action Office I product line,
then superseded by the Action Office II series, it is an
influential design in the history of “contract furniture” (office
furniture). The Action Office II series introduced the concept of
the flexible, semi-enclosed workspaces, now better known as
the cubicle.
•Derived from organizational theory, the rationale of
bürolandschaft was based on a more complex scientific
‘model’ of ‘human relations’ rather than Taylorism.
•Bürolandschaft inspired Herman Miller and Robert Propst to
create a product based on the new European workplace
philosophy. Action was the first modular business furniture
system, with low dividers and flexible work surfaces. It's still in
production today and widely used. In fact, you probably
know Action by its generic, more sinister name: cubicle.
58. ACTION OFFICE (ca. 1968) 02
“Action Office 1”, a collaboration project by
George Nelson and Robert Probst,
the most influential concepts in
the history of office furniture and design
59. ACTION OFFICE I
• AO-I featured desks and workspaces of varying
height that allowed the worker freedom of movement,
and the flexibility to assume the work position best
suited for the task. It was ideally suited to small
professional offices in which managers and employees
often interacted using the same furnishings. It suffered
from a few problems, however, as it was expensive,
difficult to assemble, and it wasn’t suitable for offices at
large corporations
ACTION OFFICE (ca. 1968) 03
61. ACTION OFFICE II
• Propst was free to explore concept of an office that was
capable of frequent modification to suit the changing
needs of the employee, without having to purchase new
furnishings.
• He wanted to allow the employee a degree of privacy,
and the ability to personalize their work environment without
impacting the environment of the workers around them.
• Propst recognized that people are more productive within
a territorial enclave that they can personalize, but also
require vistas outside their space.
• The AO-II lineup was an unprecedented success, and was
quickly copied by other manufacturers.
ACTION OFFICE (ca. 1968) 03
63. ACTION OFFICE II
ACTION OFFICE (ca. 1968) 03
Robert Probst’s “Action Office 2”,
an extension of the “Action Office 1” series,
established the “cubicle”
66. CUBE FARM (ca. 1980) 04
•It's the cubicle concept taken to the extreme. As the
ranks of middle managers swelled, a new class of
employee was created: too important for a mere desk
but too junior for a window seat.
•Facilities managers accommodated them in the
cheapest way possible, with modular walls. The sea of
cubicles was born.
•Тhe cubicle, cubicle desk, office cubicle or cubicle
workstation is a partially enclosed workspace,
separated from neighboring workspaces by partitions
that are usually 5–6 feet (1.5–1.8 m) tall. Its purpose is to
isolate office workers from the sights and noises of an
open workspace so that they may concentrate
without distractions.
67. CUBE FARM (ca. 1980) 04
• The term cubicle comes from the Latin cubiculum, for bed
chamber. It was used in English as early as the 15th century.
It eventually came to be used for small chambers of all sorts,
and for small rooms or study spaces with partitions which do
not reach to the ceiling.
• Like the older carrel desk, a cubicle seeks to give a degree
of privacy to the user while taking up minimal space in a
large or medium sized room. Prior to the widespread
adoption of cubicles, office workers often worked at desks
arranged in rows in an open room, where they were
exposed to the sounds and activity of those working around
them. Many cube farms were built during the dotcom
boom.
• Cube farms are often found in high-tech companies, but
they also appear in the insurance industry and other
service-related fields.
71. Virtual office and networking (ca. 1994) 05
•Ad agency TBWA Chiat Day's LA headquarters was a Frank
Gehry masterpiece. But the interior, dreamed up by the
company's CEO, was a fiasco. The virtual office had no
personal desks; you grabbed a laptop in the morning and
scrambled to claim a seat.
•Productivity nose-dived, and the firm quickly became a
laughingstock.
•During the past decade, furniture designers have tried to
part the sea of cubicles and encourage sociability.
•Knoll, for example, created systems with movable, semi-
enclosed pods and connected desks whose shape
separates work areas in lieu of dividers.
•Vitra unveiled furniture in which privacy is suggested if not
realized. Its large tables have low dividers that cordon off
personal space but won't guard personal calls.
75. Virtual office and networking (ca. 1994) 05
•Now, we have some companies that encourage
comfort and creativity by allowing their employees to
wear slippers or casual clothes to work. Most offices
have also adopted a casual Friday where employees
are allowed to go to office wearing casual, be it
appropriate for the office, clothing.
•Aside from fashion and our attire, a lot of others things
have changed including the very idea of going to
office. When you say going to office, people generally
think of you having a 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM every
weekday. Now, people are able to have what is being
called “virtual offices” also offered by RingCentral
where they can work out of the office or any space
they deem conducive to productivity