 |
Agents of Transformation and the "Death" of Urbanism Preeminence of the Decorated Shed Staging Uncertainty |
[1S4] WORKPLACE. As we enter a new millennium, the workplace has become an increasingly valuable focus for study. Technological developments and lifestyle changes have transformed how we work and live dramatically, and these changes have only begun to affect the design of the office and home. With the complete globalization of capitalism and the deregulation of the world’s economies, new opportunities have emerged for businesses, as long as they are both flexible and adaptable. As evidenced by the wild fluctuations in the Asian stock market in the fall of 1997, and the closing of Japanese brokerage firms which had previously guaranteed lifetime employment, large companies with regimented, hierarchical structures are being replaced by smaller, more flexible, outsourced firms. More than ever before, business today is characterized by complexity and unpredictability.
In the business world, this transformation has largely taken place. Kelly describes the example of the large advertising firm of Chiat/Day, who is "working on dismantling its physical headquarters. Project team members will rent hotel conference rooms for the duration of the project, working on portable computers and call-forwarding. They’ll disband and regroup when the project is done. Some of these groups might be ‘owned’ by the office; others would be separately controlled and financed."55 In a similar vein, Kelly constructs the scenario for "Upstart Car, Inc." which plans to compete with the big three Japanese car companies:
Robot repair and improvement is outsourced to a robot company. Acme Plant Maintenance Service keeps the factory sheds going. Phone reception is hired out to a small outfit physically located in San Mateo. The clerical work is handled by a national agency who services all the other groups in the company. Same with computer hardware. The marketing and legal guys each oversee (of course) the marketing and legal services which Upstart also hires out. Bookkeeping is pretty much entirely computerized, but an outside accounting firm, operating from remote terminals, tends to any accounting requests. In total about 100 workers are paid directly by Upstart, and they are organized into small groups with varying benefit plans and pay schedules. As Upstart’s cars soar in popularity, it grows by helping its suppliers grow, negotiating alliances, and sometimes investing in their growth.56
I predict that telecommuting will become the norm, not the exception. The demands for workplace adaptability (not to mention restrictions on air quality) will drive this transformation. ‘Downsizing’ has already become common as a way for corporations to reduce overhead costs, and workers typically have less and less office space. The branch office may already be doomed; if a majority of branch office employees conduct business on the road, it becomes a huge waste of real estate. Stephen Acker corroborates, stating that "twenty-five percent of assets locked into real estate could be freed with the virtual office."59 However, I do not anticipate that the home will serve as a workable office for many people; group interaction and direct client service are too important for business. Instead, a new form of office will emerge to serve an escalating, international population of telecommuters. Franklin D. Becker predicts that "a variety of easily accessed telework centers are likely to function as well as or better than an office."60 This ‘telework center’ is the workplace of the future.
53McGinn, Daniel and Raymond, Joan, "How We Work: The Future" in Newsweek Extra: The Power of Invention (Winter 1997-98) p. 32 54Kelly, Kevin, Out of Control (Addison Wesley, 1994) p. 189, 191 55Ibid., p. 191 56Ibid., p. 191-192 57Wieners, Brad and David Pescovitz, Reality Check (San Francisco: Hardwired, 1996) p. 37 59Lippert, Lee, "Future Beginnings: The Impact of Technology on the Workplace," A Report of the AIA Interiors Committee (Silicon Valley, California: The American Institute of Architects, March 1995) p. 5 60Wieners, Brad and David Pescovitz, Reality Check, p. 37 Images: 1. Superstudio, Continuous Monument Project (1969), 2. GM Automobile Prototyping, 3. Telecommuter, 4. On the Move
|
In their article "How We Work: The
Future," Daniel McGinn and Joan Raymond suggest that good jobs will require an
unprecedented level of training, and full-time positions will give way to freelance
contracting.53 Kevin Kelly suggests that the future shape of companies is
that of a pure network with the following characteristics: distributed, decentralized,
collaborative, and adaptive, and says that "a 100 percent networked
company would consist solely of one office of professionals linked by network technology
to other independent groups."54 Many multi-million dollar businesses are now run from one
office with two assistants, and some have no office at all. Here we are reminded of the
Superstudio concept of a Utopian society in which physical and political barriers give way
to a worldwide network, in the form of a grid covering the landscape. In this scheme, the
new ‘nomadic society’ would be free to travel anywhere, tapping into unlimited
energy, communications, and instant information.
A dozen people share a room in a sleek office building in Palo Alto,
California. Some finance people, four engineers, a CEO, a coordinator, a lawyer, and a
marketing guy. Across town in a former warehouse, crews assemble 120-mpg, nonpolluting
cars made from polychain composite materials, ceramic engines, and electronic everything
else. The hi-tech plastics come from a young company with whom Upstart has formed a joint
venture. The engines are purchased in Singapore; other automobile parts arrive each day in
bar-coded profusion from Mexico, Utah, and Detroit. The shipping companies deal with
temporary storage of parts; only what is needed that day appears at the plant. Cars, each
one customer-tailored, are ordered by a network of customers and shipped the minute they
are done. Models for the car’s body are rapidly shaped by computer-guided lasers, and
fed designs generated by customer response and targeted marketing. A flexible line of
robots assemble the cars.
This hypothetical business story
reinforces the importance of strategic alliances and the quality and efficiency of
communications between the multitude of interdependent groups. In this example, Kelly
focuses on the dozen-person headquarters, but what about the branch office? What
relationship do other permanent employees who work elsewhere have to the parent company?
Brad Wieners and David Pescovitz declare that one-fifth of U.S. workers will telecommute
by 2003 ("the term telecommuting
refers to replacing the conventional commute to work... with telecommunications").57
The telecommuters who need work space at the home office on a temporary basis practice hoteling,
which means that they have no permanent office, but are allowed to store a few necessities
in a locker. 22,500 employees of AT&T are already full-time telecommuters, and
workplace management experts suggest that the national number will triple in the next 15
years.58
A Master's Thesis in Architecture at Rice University by Blaine Brownell. Copyright © 1998 by Blaine Brownell. All rights reserved. |
