5 ms·

The Utopian Origins of Cubicles

14 points by lurkage 18y ago

lpgauth 18y ago
I hate cubicles. You get no privacy (noise), yet you're isolated from others.
t0pj 18y ago
"...the average office space per worker in the United States dropped from 250 square feet in 2000 to 190 square feet in 2005." Wow, two-hundred and fifty square feet on average! I can feel my ego shriveling as I twist in my chair, taking in a panoramic view of my allocated 7 x 7.
- 0x44 18y ago
  7x7? What luxury! Here in 8x6 land, we can't even dream of what we could put in that extra square foot.
  - sant0sk1 18y ago
    "What size cells are these? Eight by eight? Ours are nine by nine... no big deal." (pin the quote on the movie)
    - t0pj 18y ago
      pinned: Super Troopers Heh. Cells. Cubes. Same diff.
- antiismist 18y ago
  Those numbers aren't for cubicle size, they are for (the whole office) / (# of employees). So don't feel too bad about your 7 x 7, as long as you have a nice bathroom, canteen, etc.
  - watmough 18y ago
    My cubicle is 'en-suite'. Oh wait! It's not?!?!?
    - antiismist 18y ago
      I like how sometimes fancy words are used to describe not so fancy things.
  - t0pj 18y ago
    "as long as you have a nice bathroom, canteen, etc." Screwed.
- hugh 18y ago
  I assume the average includes corridors, common areas et cetera.
edw519 18y ago
I have experienced only 2 kinds of effective workspace, a private office and sharing a large room with my coworkers. Cubicles are neither. I always likened them to jail cells where you still have to pay for your own lunch.
- astine 18y ago
  I dunno, I prefer cubicles to open space. Some privacy is better than no privacy at all.
  - dreish 18y ago
    To each his own of course, but to me they offer just enough privacy to breed mistrust, and just enough exposure to feed paranoia. It's hard to tease out a central thesis from this article, but I think I would focus on the claim that offices are part of a bureaucratic system that is slowed by paperwork, and that pushing people together encourages them to wander over and chat about work rather than constantly draft memos. I think that view is out of date, in the age of email and IM. Cubicles divide people enough that they don't feel like they're side-by-side on a team, yet distract technical workers and break their concentration.
  - edw519 18y ago
    "I prefer cubicles to open space." You'd think so. I'm just remembering the projects where we got the most done. Which were also the most fun (go figure). One was a 20 x 15 room with 4 desks and a white board. Another was one big table with 4 of us facing each other. (When I had to be alone, I went out to my RV in the parking lot.) Another was a conference room with a long table and a bunch of laptops. We used to call these "war rooms". (Why is it when we really have to get something done, we throw each other together in a "war room". The rest of the time, we sit in soulless offices and cubicles?)
dmh2000 18y ago
>the invention of double-entry bookkeeping, calculators, and spreadsheets are unlikely material for a captivating History Channel feature i disagree completely. double-entry and calculators fundamentally changed society.
- astine 18y ago
  Indeed, Double Entry is one of those fundamental shifts in business that helped to reshape the economy in untold ways. our entire financial system is build on it.
  - dbreunig 18y ago
    The BBC show "The Secret Life of Machines" did an excellent episode on the history of the office space. They're even hosted online for free! Scroll down to the second last episode. http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/SLOM/ http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/SLOM/ I recommend watching them all. Great stuff.
alexk 18y ago
Cubilcles are frustrating - no freedom, just cells, cells, cells with people inside...
alex_c 18y ago
An utopian ideal for equality goes horribly wrong in practice. Not the first time that's happened, is it... The interesting question is - what will come after cubicles?
- astine 18y ago
  Telecommuting.
dbreunig 18y ago
Reader Alert The New Atlantis is quietly a very conservative publication. Just FYI.
davidw 18y ago
Sounds vaguelly like the "shopping mall" envisioned by this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Gruen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Gruen He wanted to recreate the downtown of a typical European city, but it ended up as "lots of stores packed together", and he eventually gave up and moved back to Europe, disappointed with the whole thing.
sethg 18y ago
Joel Spolsky (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/04/13.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/04/13.html) has a more convincing explanation for why cubicles are so popular. As far as the IRS is concerned, improving your office space is not a business expense, so you can't deduct it; the most you can do is depreciate the cost over time and take the depreciation as an expense. If you build walls to create separate offices, you have to depreciate the cost over forty years. If you buy cubicles and install them, you can depreciate the cost over only seven years. If you lease the cubicles, the monthly lease is considered a business expense, and you can deduct all of it right away.
lpgauth 18y ago
http://gizmodo.com/5012983/security-cam-footage-of-cubicle-rage-to-the-extreme-is-every-cube-dwellers-fantasy http://gizmodo.com/5012983/security-cam-footage-of-cubicle-r...
gibsonf1 18y ago
Ok, its hard to resist posting this here: http://www.breitbart.tv/html/108653.html http://www.breitbart.tv/html/108653.html Its a cubicle working going beserk, caught on tape, destroying part of the office.
aswanson 18y ago
Like socialism, their heart was in the right place...

14 points by lurkage 18y ago

I hate cubicles. You get no privacy (noise), yet you're isolated from others.

t0pj 18y ago

"...the average office space per worker in the United States dropped from 250 square feet in 2000 to 190 square feet in 2005." Wow, two-hundred and fifty square feet on average! I can feel my ego shriveling as I twist in my chair, taking in a panoramic view of my allocated 7 x 7.

0x44 18y ago
7x7? What luxury! Here in 8x6 land, we can't even dream of what we could put in that extra square foot.
- sant0sk1 18y ago
  "What size cells are these? Eight by eight? Ours are nine by nine... no big deal." (pin the quote on the movie)
  - t0pj 18y ago
    pinned: Super Troopers Heh. Cells. Cubes. Same diff.
antiismist 18y ago
Those numbers aren't for cubicle size, they are for (the whole office) / (# of employees). So don't feel too bad about your 7 x 7, as long as you have a nice bathroom, canteen, etc.
- watmough 18y ago
  My cubicle is 'en-suite'. Oh wait! It's not?!?!?
  - antiismist 18y ago
    I like how sometimes fancy words are used to describe not so fancy things.
- t0pj 18y ago
  "as long as you have a nice bathroom, canteen, etc." Screwed.
hugh 18y ago
I assume the average includes corridors, common areas et cetera.

edw519 18y ago

I have experienced only 2 kinds of effective workspace, a private office and sharing a large room with my coworkers. Cubicles are neither. I always likened them to jail cells where you still have to pay for your own lunch.

astine 18y ago
I dunno, I prefer cubicles to open space. Some privacy is better than no privacy at all.
- dreish 18y ago
  To each his own of course, but to me they offer just enough privacy to breed mistrust, and just enough exposure to feed paranoia. It's hard to tease out a central thesis from this article, but I think I would focus on the claim that offices are part of a bureaucratic system that is slowed by paperwork, and that pushing people together encourages them to wander over and chat about work rather than constantly draft memos. I think that view is out of date, in the age of email and IM. Cubicles divide people enough that they don't feel like they're side-by-side on a team, yet distract technical workers and break their concentration.
- edw519 18y ago
  "I prefer cubicles to open space." You'd think so. I'm just remembering the projects where we got the most done. Which were also the most fun (go figure). One was a 20 x 15 room with 4 desks and a white board. Another was one big table with 4 of us facing each other. (When I had to be alone, I went out to my RV in the parking lot.) Another was a conference room with a long table and a bunch of laptops. We used to call these "war rooms". (Why is it when we really have to get something done, we throw each other together in a "war room". The rest of the time, we sit in soulless offices and cubicles?)

dmh2000 18y ago

>the invention of double-entry bookkeeping, calculators, and spreadsheets are unlikely material for a captivating History Channel feature i disagree completely. double-entry and calculators fundamentally changed society.

astine 18y ago
Indeed, Double Entry is one of those fundamental shifts in business that helped to reshape the economy in untold ways. our entire financial system is build on it.
- dbreunig 18y ago
  The BBC show "The Secret Life of Machines" did an excellent episode on the history of the office space. They're even hosted online for free! Scroll down to the second last episode. http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/SLOM/ http://www.exploratorium.edu/ronh/SLOM/ I recommend watching them all. Great stuff.

alexk 18y ago

Cubilcles are frustrating - no freedom, just cells, cells, cells with people inside...

alex_c 18y ago

An utopian ideal for equality goes horribly wrong in practice. Not the first time that's happened, is it... The interesting question is - what will come after cubicles?

astine 18y ago
Telecommuting.

dbreunig 18y ago

Reader Alert The New Atlantis is quietly a very conservative publication. Just FYI.

davidw 18y ago

Sounds vaguelly like the "shopping mall" envisioned by this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Gruen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Gruen He wanted to recreate the downtown of a typical European city, but it ended up as "lots of stores packed together", and he eventually gave up and moved back to Europe, disappointed with the whole thing.

sethg 18y ago

Joel Spolsky (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/04/13.html http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/04/13.html) has a more convincing explanation for why cubicles are so popular. As far as the IRS is concerned, improving your office space is not a business expense, so you can't deduct it; the most you can do is depreciate the cost over time and take the depreciation as an expense. If you build walls to create separate offices, you have to depreciate the cost over forty years. If you buy cubicles and install them, you can depreciate the cost over only seven years. If you lease the cubicles, the monthly lease is considered a business expense, and you can deduct all of it right away.

lpgauth 18y ago

http://gizmodo.com/5012983/security-cam-footage-of-cubicle-rage-to-the-extreme-is-every-cube-dwellers-fantasy http://gizmodo.com/5012983/security-cam-footage-of-cubicle-r...

gibsonf1 18y ago

Ok, its hard to resist posting this here: http://www.breitbart.tv/html/108653.html http://www.breitbart.tv/html/108653.html Its a cubicle working going beserk, caught on tape, destroying part of the office.

aswanson 18y ago

Like socialism, their heart was in the right place...