Open-Plan Offices and Design Trends in the 21st Century

Introduction: A News Story as a Design Lens

A 2014 New York Times article by John Mahler, titled "Cubicles Rise in a Brave New World of Publishing," reports that the open-plan office — complete with cubicles — has broken down the once-hallowed walls of Manhattan's literary elite: the publishing house. Editors, who once prided themselves on well-appointed offices reminiscent of British gentlemen's clubs, must now eschew their former reclusiveness in favor of chummy, shoulder-to-shoulder camaraderie. The change is driven by falling profit margins and the desire to maintain headquarters within Manhattan, close to the literary agents and media outlets that are the wheels on the publishing vehicle.

Many editors consider the idea of open-plan offices and cubicles anathema to the intellectual work that publishing entails. Those needing quieter spaces are forced to work at home in the evenings or to slip away to small conference rooms informally known as "quiet cars." Open-plan offices are becoming standard across many industries, despite a lack of real evidence that the design contributes meaningfully to work quality or efficiency. In this sense, open-plan offices represent the design equivalent of the tail wagging the dog.

The Open-Plan Office Trend and Its Spread

The central design insight prompted by this news story is that design is pervasive and quickly becomes embedded in society in ways that come to seem natural — as though a given form has always existed, inevitable and self-evident. The open-plan office is a powerful example of this phenomenon. What began as a practical and economic response to space constraints has evolved into an ideological fixture of modern working life, rarely questioned and often celebrated without critical scrutiny.

Ways of Working Without Evidence

Ways of working often follow trends that have little evidence-based science to demonstrate that the approaches are superior, or even truly desirable from any perspective other than trendiness. Consider the Google work environment: there are slides between floors, acoustically supported napping pods, and ping-pong and other table games. Google is also a proponent of flexible, completely mobile work environments. In many ways, Google might be said to be anti-cubicle. However, the company has adapted the open environment that is one of the primary arguments for using cubicles in the workplace.

The broader trend is toward movable furnishings absent dedicated purpose or functions suggested by inherent design. Workers are expected to rearrange furnishings and equipment in the workspace according to whim or to assemble ad hoc working groups. If any worker in a flexible environment has concerns about principles such as feng shui, they are unlikely to voice them. The prevailing philosophy is that there are no rules — or at least no traditional ones.

Conclusion: Trend Over Evidence

Yet all these changes — which acquiesce to constrained budgets and the rhetoric about the congenial and serendipitous productivity of cubicle dwellers — do not align with the mounting evidence that these so-called benefits are purely hyperbole. The open-plan office endures not because it has been proven to enhance creativity, collaboration, or output, but because it is economically convenient and culturally fashionable. As a global design phenomenon, it stands as a cautionary example of how form can follow finance and fashion rather than function.

Works Cited

Mahler, John. "Cubicles Rise in a Brave New World of Publishing." The New York Times, 9 November 2014.