Visual privacy was not respected, nor were workers thermally comfortable. Dilbert, of course, is the comic strip cartoon that parodied everyday cubicle life in a nondescript office.ħ years on, what have we found? A University of Sydney study has said that noise distraction and lack of sound privacy has contributed to decreased productivity and increased stress levels. What started with ‘Taylorism’ - American Frederick Windsor Taylor who applied farming efficiencies to an emerging post-industrial economy in the late 1800s - soon moved towards ‘Dilbertism’. Open plan is a backlash against previous models of the office environment. So why have we pushed the ‘open plan’, and what are the results? Housing is marketed as ‘open plan’, schools now endorse a pedagogy where open plan facilitates peer-assisted learning, churches replace pews for coffee tables, and the previously ubiquitous office cubicle has certainly died a death. Is it loud? Is there ambient noise? Can you eavesdrop on someone else’s conversation? Can you see other people? Are you on a communal desk, a cubicle, or a contained office? Can someone interrupt you? Can you see outside to a window? Can you open the window? Is there natural light or task lighting?Īs an architect, the rise and rise of ‘open plan’ has permeated almost every typology that we design. Image by DesignCue, Take a moment to observe your work environment now.
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