Title: About an office which doesn’t exist… but which is emerging from new opportunities and visions
Abstract:This article looks at alternatives for modern office design and deals with the challenges of this part of architectural production in a historical and cultural context.The article suggests a collage –...This article looks at alternatives for modern office design and deals with the challenges of this part of architectural production in a historical and cultural context.The article suggests a collage – an imaginary, ideal office of the future – ‘made out’ of elements of four buildings: S-House (Austria), Interpolis (Holand), BIQ (Gemany) and the planned Google Headquarter (US)
‘The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office,’ said Robert Frost. Millions of people spend one third of their life in an office. Thousands of them suffer from depression, stress, allergies and somatic diseases because of the wrongly designed work environment. Offices consume huge amounts of energy and suck life out from cities. How did architecture end up in this unhealthy place?
Many examples of offices designed in 1960s and 1970s show that architects discovered new models while experimenting with new office landscape design and new social ideas. New typologies were suggested by architects such as Herman Hertzberger, who designed offices as Mediterranean cities, or Norman Forster, who offered a swimming pool for clerks in Ipswich Office. Unfortunately, since 1990s most architects have given up experimentation and social agenda. Cultural, economic or political pressure directed office design towards bland open spaces and speculative buildings. Today all too often behind iconic elevations one finds architecture with limited ambition.
The article searches for alternatives and new types of office design:
S-House is a result of cooperation between Vienna Research Institute GtAT and designers from Architecten Schieicher. This is one of the most ambitious buildings made out of straw bales which surpasses the Passive House standards. It promotes local industry and opens new frontiers of sustainable natural building methods
The new redevelopment of the Dutch Interpolis shows that offices could turn into a conglomeration of bars, cafes and small spaces for office workers, conferences, but also for the public. BIQ is the first office with a bioactive elevation made out of panels containing living edible algae which are then used for sustainable energy production.
New Google Headquarters suggests how the landscape could merge with flexible buildings that can change their geometries.
Would it be possible to merge all these four philosophies into one design? Author believes it is the case and sketches a vision for a an ideal office of the future, which is a collage of those ideas.Read More
Publication Year: 2015
Publication Date: 2015-05-01
Language: en
Type: article
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