The art and science of office design can often be overlooked in favour of more glamorous or homely interiors, but the vast majority of us still spend a significant amount of our lives in the office. Therefore the design of office spaces is well worth investigating, from both a historical perspective and to understand the trends that will define the look of our future workplaces.
Here’s a look at the changing landscape of offices, from regimented rows of desks to today’s open plan office that benefits from modern architectural design features such as glass partitions.
Ancient beginnings
The word ‘office’ is derived from the Roman Latin word ‘officium’ and it refers to the staff or position rather than the physical space that the work is carried out. This is why you still hear references to ‘high office’ or the ‘Office of the Public Guardian’ and so on.
However, the Romans were highly talented interior designers, and examples remain of beautifully arranged buildings that were intended to conduct business, such as the Pantheon in Rome. With the decline of the Roman Empire, the need for such grand administrative centres for religion and business naturally fell away.
The rise of trade and industry
It wasn’t until the 18th century when world trade began to open up that the demand for large-scale office buildings was revived. One such example is the London headquarters of the East India Company, constructed in 1729. However, it was Liverpool who led the way in the trend for high-rise office buildings that would come to dominate the 20th century.
The city was a major hub for international trade in the 19th century, due to its strategically located docks at the mouth of the River Mersey that were used to ship abroad produce from the booming textile industry of north west England. The city was also first port of call for the imports of sugar and other goods, and its role in the slave trade must also be acknowledged.
Oriel Chambers was the first large-scale five storey building to be constructed in the UK, and was designed in 1864 by the architect Peter Ellis. It was the world’s first building to feature a ‘glass curtain wall’, with huge expanses of metal-framed exterior glazing that allowed the building to be flooded with natural light.
The building still stands today on Water Street with its glass frontage intact, although part of the building was destroyed in WWII bombing and has been reconstructed. The lucky tenants today enjoy airy and spacious offices with little need for artificial light sources.
The ‘production line’ layout of the early 20th century
By the early 20th century, pressures on land use and innovations such as the passenger lift and steel-frame construction methods saw a proliferation of skyscrapers emerge in larger cities such as London and New York. These buildings could accommodate a large number of workers in one place and maximised cost efficiencies for businesses.
Early office buildings were noisy places full of the clatter of typewriters and ringing telephones, and this led to the development of soundproof partitions and booths. As work roles became more defined and segregated, the Taylorist office layout became standardised. This involved rows of desks lined up to resemble a factory production line.
The upper layers of management had their own private offices, while the rows of desks were overseen by supervisors. This layout was suited to repetitive simple administrative tasks, but paid little attention to employees’ comfort or mental wellbeing. They also maintained rigid hierarchies and did not foster communication or teamwork.
The rise and fall of open-plan layouts
In the 1930s, new office designs emerged that were more considerate of the experience of workers, with brighter and lighter colour schemes and cork or carpets to absorb noise. By the 1950s, more rigid office layouts gave way to open plan designs that encouraged more interaction between staff and were air-conditioned and better lit with fluorescent lights.
Office dynamics also changed rapidly in the 1950s and 60s, with the mass influx of women into the workforce as it became the norm for women to have careers as well as families. Young women were now employed to carry out clerical and secretarial work and they requested that modesty boards were placed in front of their desks.
This led to the rise of booths and cubicles in offices that allowed for a greater degree of privacy and also gave workers some control over their environment, enabling them to add personal touches.
By the 1990s, the cubicle-based office trend had largely died out, as they were seen as isolating and depersonalising. Instead, there was a return to the open-plan office, which was now back in fashion as a way to encourage communication and collaboration, and to break down hierarchies, particularly in more creative businesses such as design and advertising.
This approach was seen as more human-centric and inclusive, but it is not without its critics. Some workers find open-plan layouts too noisy and distracting, and they prefer more private and quiet spaces to carry out detailed work or think creatively. Some offices have introduced a solution with the use of acoustic glass partitions, which allows for the best of both worlds.
The future of office design
The design and purpose of office spaces has evolved rapidly over the past decade, driven by innovations in technology and expedited by the pandemic. This means that we are now less tethered to a single place of work, and around 40 percent of the workforce now divides their week between working from home and commuting to the office.
This has led to the traditional use of offices for carrying out routine tasks to decline. They are now flexible and multi-purpose places, and there is also a much greater emphasis on employee’s mental and physical health. Biophilic design, with good access to natural light, outdoor views, and indoor plants are now becoming the norm.
