5 ms·

Do you need specially-designed places to be creative? Off-hand, the places that were really wildly creative during the 20th century were pretty standard office

Do you need specially-designed places to be creative? Off-hand, the places that were really wildly creative during the 20th century were pretty standard offices and workshops, weren't they? Think of Xerox PARC, Bell Labs, and Bletchley Park. They all accomplished wild things. But the buildings were unremarkable.

SaberTail 10y ago
I've read that the Bell Labs offices were designed in order to promote collaboration. It was laid out such that there'd be long hallways between the offices and things like restrooms and stairs, so that there'd be greater chances of colleagues bumping into each other and talking about work. I don't have a copy of The Idea Factory[1], where I recall reading this handy, but that's my best recollection. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Idea-Factory-Great-American-Innovation/dp/0143122797 https://www.amazon.com/Idea-Factory-Great-American-Innovatio...
- gohrt 10y ago
  And now we put everyone in open-floorplan barns to "promote colllaboration", with nowhere for people to go back and work at when they are done collaborating. "Hallway conversations" have become "constant conversations"
  - golergka 10y ago
    One of the first things I ask potential employers in my current job search is whether they employ open space office or not, and simply refuse to talk further if they want me to sit with 20+ people in one room. I hope more developers will do it to put some pressure on this matter.
    - steve-howard 10y ago
      I'd love to have the leverage to do that, but I don't. The vast majority of companies see nothing wrong with this, and I'm not so in demand that I can filter based on office space.
  - johan_larson 10y ago
    I have two theories of why open-plan offices are popular. The first is simply that it's cheaper to have an open office. Modern office buildings tend to have large spaces -- nearly whole floors -- that are open, but can be subdivided. But subdivision costs money. Paying carpenters to put up walls isn't cheap, and even cube systems can be surprisingly expensive. Plus managers are accountable for costs. So they choose the cheap option. The second is that open office plans are good for communication and collaboration, though less good for individual silent work. Managers are essentially all about communication and collaboration, which is why they love these open offices. Unfortunately while programmers need to both communicate and work alone, they need to communicate and collaborate much less than managers do, which is why office plans that are selected by managers make things difficult for the programmers.
    - milkey_mouse 10y ago
      My cynical side says a third reason is that open offices make it very easy for managers/bosses/anyone who wants to see if you're working or not.
- sedachv 10y ago
  It was the old RAND Santa Monica headquarters, designed by John Williams: http://www.rand.org/pubs/classics/building.html http://www.rand.org/pubs/classics/building.html That particular building was demolished in 2005.
nickbauman 10y ago
Building 20 on MIT, home of a string of critical innovations that came out of WWII, designed as a temporary building, is beguilingly crappy looking. In reality, Building 20 ended up being an ideal incubator: you could knock down or put up a wall anytime you wanted (nobody cares if everything is temporary), you could stick your head out of the corridor and as for some Barium or copper wires from the guys across the hall. The entrances encouraged smart people working on different project to bump into each other. Building 20's replacement, a piece of Magazine Architecture designed by I.M. Pei caused the same innovators to be blissfully unaware they were working at cross purposes because they never saw each other in the glistening gloom of interior of that slab. http://mit2016.mit.edu/campus-cambridge/evolving-frontier/magical-incubators http://mit2016.mit.edu/campus-cambridge/evolving-frontier/ma...
abecedarius 10y ago
I visited PARC a couple times in the 90s. It was unusual in sitting atop a hill with a nice view and (iirc) no immediate neighbors. In the group I visited, researchers had their own offices, plus communal area. I vaguely remember some long corridors which might've increased the frequency of bumping into people. (Having an office was not so freaking unusual 20 years ago.)

SaberTail 10y ago

I've read that the Bell Labs offices were designed in order to promote collaboration. It was laid out such that there'd be long hallways between the offices and things like restrooms and stairs, so that there'd be greater chances of colleagues bumping into each other and talking about work. I don't have a copy of The Idea Factory[1], where I recall reading this handy, but that's my best recollection. [1] https://www.amazon.com/Idea-Factory-Great-American-Innovation/dp/0143122797 https://www.amazon.com/Idea-Factory-Great-American-Innovatio...

gohrt 10y ago
And now we put everyone in open-floorplan barns to "promote colllaboration", with nowhere for people to go back and work at when they are done collaborating. "Hallway conversations" have become "constant conversations"
- golergka 10y ago
  One of the first things I ask potential employers in my current job search is whether they employ open space office or not, and simply refuse to talk further if they want me to sit with 20+ people in one room. I hope more developers will do it to put some pressure on this matter.
  - steve-howard 10y ago
    I'd love to have the leverage to do that, but I don't. The vast majority of companies see nothing wrong with this, and I'm not so in demand that I can filter based on office space.
- johan_larson 10y ago
  I have two theories of why open-plan offices are popular. The first is simply that it's cheaper to have an open office. Modern office buildings tend to have large spaces -- nearly whole floors -- that are open, but can be subdivided. But subdivision costs money. Paying carpenters to put up walls isn't cheap, and even cube systems can be surprisingly expensive. Plus managers are accountable for costs. So they choose the cheap option. The second is that open office plans are good for communication and collaboration, though less good for individual silent work. Managers are essentially all about communication and collaboration, which is why they love these open offices. Unfortunately while programmers need to both communicate and work alone, they need to communicate and collaborate much less than managers do, which is why office plans that are selected by managers make things difficult for the programmers.
  - milkey_mouse 10y ago
    My cynical side says a third reason is that open offices make it very easy for managers/bosses/anyone who wants to see if you're working or not.
sedachv 10y ago
It was the old RAND Santa Monica headquarters, designed by John Williams: http://www.rand.org/pubs/classics/building.html http://www.rand.org/pubs/classics/building.html That particular building was demolished in 2005.

nickbauman 10y ago

Building 20 on MIT, home of a string of critical innovations that came out of WWII, designed as a temporary building, is beguilingly crappy looking. In reality, Building 20 ended up being an ideal incubator: you could knock down or put up a wall anytime you wanted (nobody cares if everything is temporary), you could stick your head out of the corridor and as for some Barium or copper wires from the guys across the hall. The entrances encouraged smart people working on different project to bump into each other. Building 20's replacement, a piece of Magazine Architecture designed by I.M. Pei caused the same innovators to be blissfully unaware they were working at cross purposes because they never saw each other in the glistening gloom of interior of that slab. http://mit2016.mit.edu/campus-cambridge/evolving-frontier/magical-incubators http://mit2016.mit.edu/campus-cambridge/evolving-frontier/ma...

abecedarius 10y ago

I visited PARC a couple times in the 90s. It was unusual in sitting atop a hill with a nice view and (iirc) no immediate neighbors. In the group I visited, researchers had their own offices, plus communal area. I vaguely remember some long corridors which might've increased the frequency of bumping into people. (Having an office was not so freaking unusual 20 years ago.)