Refining the world of work.

Leon Krier famously remarked that the problem about office towers was not their height, but the number of floors. He suggested that it would be fine to create skyscrapers of almost any height, provided the number of storeys was exactly the same (say six). This provocative proposition, commercially unworkable, nevertheless drew attention to an embarrassing aspect of office design: the tyranny of vertical repetition combined with the value engineer's curse of minimum floor-to-ceiling heights. It is little wonder that the banality of office architecture has often ruled it out of serious architectural discussion--its chief interest being as phenomenon rather than design. Yet offices are the work buildings of the twentieth century, at least in the developed world, in the same way that factories marked the manufacturing revolution of the nineteenth century in Europe and beyond. Those were once viewed as banal (except by Schinkel), yet have now found a distinctive place in architectural history. How will we think about current and recent office architecture in the future?

From an environmental perspective, too many office buildings have lasted for too short a period, have been too greedy of energy in use, and have proved incapable of beneficial adaptation. The mantras of lightweight construction, just-about-sufficient structural strength and minimum volumes have failed to produce buildings either flexible or adaptable or long-lasting. They have to go, and all their embedded energy with them. Even though energy is now a real consideration, it must be said that there is an increasing acceptance of deep floorspace that requires smart architecture and services of a quality not readily identifiable in many office buildings.

However, there does seem to be a new spirit at work in office design, responding to changing ideas about what it is we do when we 'go to the office'. The best new designs, some combining landscape within ingenious inside-outside designs, create pleasurable creative places where work in a variety of forms can take place. Even if the first tenants fill them with bench-desking to maximum capacity (the Valium of interior design), there is a possibility of later improvement. New York, the quintessential office city, is the location next month of the British Council for Offices annual conference; no doubt contrasts will be made there between US and European attitudes to energy, structure, services and so on. The transatlantic history of the office as a building type is a truly fascinating one and the chapters now being written, not least in respect of Ground Zero, will deserve attention for what one hopes will be the right architectural experiential and environmental reasons.