Designing for Pleasure and Productivity: Corporate Design for Employees, 1950-2000
by Ike Edgerton
"We believe these new premises will have an impact upon our staff"[1]
Corporations carefully design their buildings in the suburbs to change their employees' moods and attitudes. Following the common-sense notion that environment affects behavior, corporations work to build structures that affect their employees in ways that benefit their bottom line, and print substantial quantities of promotional material to document their generosity. By building structures that emphasize light, order, and splendor in their interior spaces, corporations hope to make their employees more inspired, productive, and obedient. Corporations consider the cost of building their offices an investment, and they expect a return.
"We believe these new premises will have an impact upon our staff"[1]
Corporations carefully design their buildings in the suburbs to change their employees' moods and attitudes. Following the common-sense notion that environment affects behavior, corporations work to build structures that affect their employees in ways that benefit their bottom line, and print substantial quantities of promotional material to document their generosity. By building structures that emphasize light, order, and splendor in their interior spaces, corporations hope to make their employees more inspired, productive, and obedient. Corporations consider the cost of building their offices an investment, and they expect a return.
Let There Be Light
Corporate chiefs believe that providing their employees with light and views will make them happier, more creative, and more productive. To this end, they employ vast quantities of glass in floor-to-ceiling windows and in skylights and atria. The obsession with glass is widespread, and testified by corporate promotional materials. The publicists for the Mastercard International Headquarters in Purchase, New York, designed by I.M. Pei in 1983, proclaim that the building's "glass office fronts and work station panels distribute light and views," and the promotional book heralding the construction of the Gannet/USA Today Corporate Headquarters, in McLean, Virginia, uses variations on the phrase "natural light" half a dozen times over the course of the text, repeating it like a catechism.[2] Corporations do provide the light they tout. The Mastercard Headquarters features three three-story atria with skylights, and the Gannet/USA Today Headquarters includes floor-to-ceiling windows in numerous hallways, skylights for its lobbies, and "slab opening" windows for its basement corridors.[3]
Corporate chiefs believe that providing their employees with light and views will make them happier, more creative, and more productive. To this end, they employ vast quantities of glass in floor-to-ceiling windows and in skylights and atria. The obsession with glass is widespread, and testified by corporate promotional materials. The publicists for the Mastercard International Headquarters in Purchase, New York, designed by I.M. Pei in 1983, proclaim that the building's "glass office fronts and work station panels distribute light and views," and the promotional book heralding the construction of the Gannet/USA Today Corporate Headquarters, in McLean, Virginia, uses variations on the phrase "natural light" half a dozen times over the course of the text, repeating it like a catechism.[2] Corporations do provide the light they tout. The Mastercard Headquarters features three three-story atria with skylights, and the Gannet/USA Today Headquarters includes floor-to-ceiling windows in numerous hallways, skylights for its lobbies, and "slab opening" windows for its basement corridors.[3]
Light Work
But they expect a return on their investment. The sheer quantity of references to natural light in the Gannet/USA Today promotional book, their emphasis on the relationship between window transparency and journalistic integrity in their introduction, and their doubtless expensive effort to provide light to both sides of their newsroom all strongly suggest that they believe sunlight and views will make their employees happier and probably better journalists.[4]General Motors, another great corporate believer in windows, says it more directly: "a view of patio and pool contributes to precision engineering," proclaims the text of Where Today Meets Tomorrow, a promotional booklet about the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan.[5] Corporations use windows extensively to provide light and views to their employees in the belief that sun and vistas will make them happy and inspired, and will therefore make them work harder.
But they expect a return on their investment. The sheer quantity of references to natural light in the Gannet/USA Today promotional book, their emphasis on the relationship between window transparency and journalistic integrity in their introduction, and their doubtless expensive effort to provide light to both sides of their newsroom all strongly suggest that they believe sunlight and views will make their employees happier and probably better journalists.[4]General Motors, another great corporate believer in windows, says it more directly: "a view of patio and pool contributes to precision engineering," proclaims the text of Where Today Meets Tomorrow, a promotional booklet about the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan.[5] Corporations use windows extensively to provide light and views to their employees in the belief that sun and vistas will make them happy and inspired, and will therefore make them work harder.
Shaping Efficiency
Windows are not the only design tool corporations use to influence their workers. By building geometrically ordered structures filled with clean surfaces and formal furniture, they hope to instill efficiency and order into their employees' work lives. Corporate architecture therefore frequently emphasizes rectilinear purity and severe geometric lines unbroken by decoration. General Motors makes its intentions admirably clear, accompanying a photo of the Technical Center's strictly ordered glass and steel facade with a caption simply reading "sharp and functional."[6] The Gannet/USA Today Headquarters expresses the same idea to employees in its glass-and-steel building, noting its gridded, rectilinear newsroom's "clear organization" in a caption.[7]
Windows are not the only design tool corporations use to influence their workers. By building geometrically ordered structures filled with clean surfaces and formal furniture, they hope to instill efficiency and order into their employees' work lives. Corporate architecture therefore frequently emphasizes rectilinear purity and severe geometric lines unbroken by decoration. General Motors makes its intentions admirably clear, accompanying a photo of the Technical Center's strictly ordered glass and steel facade with a caption simply reading "sharp and functional."[6] The Gannet/USA Today Headquarters expresses the same idea to employees in its glass-and-steel building, noting its gridded, rectilinear newsroom's "clear organization" in a caption.[7]
Functional Flatness
Continuing the theme of smooth efficiency, corporations tend to use clean, flat surfaces in their buildings' interiors, following the aesthetic imperative of the International Style of architecture. Proponents of the Style believed that buildings should be designed for efficient functional operation as if they were machines, a mechanistic approach to design that appealed to corporations hoping to prod workers into productivity.[8] The General Motors Technical Center's research division lobby features flat, smooth expanses of floor, wall, ceiling, and columns. The same flatness fills the corridor to the employee amenities in the Gannet/USA Today building. Both General Motors and Gannet/USA Today create spaces off of which the eye can slide speedily, serving as exemplars of efficiency in their drive to reach their destination by the shortest possible route, the straight line.[9]
Continuing the theme of smooth efficiency, corporations tend to use clean, flat surfaces in their buildings' interiors, following the aesthetic imperative of the International Style of architecture. Proponents of the Style believed that buildings should be designed for efficient functional operation as if they were machines, a mechanistic approach to design that appealed to corporations hoping to prod workers into productivity.[8] The General Motors Technical Center's research division lobby features flat, smooth expanses of floor, wall, ceiling, and columns. The same flatness fills the corridor to the employee amenities in the Gannet/USA Today building. Both General Motors and Gannet/USA Today create spaces off of which the eye can slide speedily, serving as exemplars of efficiency in their drive to reach their destination by the shortest possible route, the straight line.[9]
The Furniture is the Message
This push for efficiency also reveals itself in the strict, minimal design of the furniture corporations choose to use in their buildings. General Motors fills its Technical Center with formal modernist furniture, lining its research library with couches whose edges look sharp enough to cut the backs of the knees of anyone unwise enough to relax on them.[10] In the same vein, the Gannet/USA Today cafeteria contains chairs built of thin, slatted pieces of bent wood on thin metal legs, the back-rests of which push stridently inward into the back of the sitter, without a cushion, a curve to lean into, or a couch in sight. Corporations use uncomfortable furniture as a physical reminder of the push toward efficiency they convey with the the strict geometry and flat surfaces of their buildings' interiors.
This push for efficiency also reveals itself in the strict, minimal design of the furniture corporations choose to use in their buildings. General Motors fills its Technical Center with formal modernist furniture, lining its research library with couches whose edges look sharp enough to cut the backs of the knees of anyone unwise enough to relax on them.[10] In the same vein, the Gannet/USA Today cafeteria contains chairs built of thin, slatted pieces of bent wood on thin metal legs, the back-rests of which push stridently inward into the back of the sitter, without a cushion, a curve to lean into, or a couch in sight. Corporations use uncomfortable furniture as a physical reminder of the push toward efficiency they convey with the the strict geometry and flat surfaces of their buildings' interiors.
Generous Overlords
It is not enough that workers be efficient; they must also be obedient. Corporations therefore use big spaces, long perspectives and precious materials to impress and satiate their employees with luxuries. Companies house their employee amenities in large interior spaces to share some of their wealth with their workers. Mastercard uses three-story atriums, Gannet/USA Today provides an "enviably spacious health club," and GM gives workers multiple large-scale cafeterias.[11] These big rooms, universally built with double- or triple-height ceilings, provide larger spaces than employees really need: these generous amenities not only share the company's wealth with the workers, they also show it off to them, a display of power.
It is not enough that workers be efficient; they must also be obedient. Corporations therefore use big spaces, long perspectives and precious materials to impress and satiate their employees with luxuries. Companies house their employee amenities in large interior spaces to share some of their wealth with their workers. Mastercard uses three-story atriums, Gannet/USA Today provides an "enviably spacious health club," and GM gives workers multiple large-scale cafeterias.[11] These big rooms, universally built with double- or triple-height ceilings, provide larger spaces than employees really need: these generous amenities not only share the company's wealth with the workers, they also show it off to them, a display of power.
Long Walk for the Little Man
This is even clearer in the grand corridors of the General Motors Technical Center and the Gannet/USA Today complex: these long halls, by taking advantage of the perspective effects of unbroken lines, impress on employees their own smallness. The main corridor of the GM Technical Center is a vast tunnel that seems to stretch to infinity, an impression enhanced by the absence of pattern on any surface and the uninterrupted line of the fluorescent lights that run down the whole length of the ceiling.[12] The lack of interest along the hall increases its perceived length to someone walking down it, because there is nothing to look at to fill the time until the walker reaches his destination.he Gannet/USA Today building breaks the monotony of its corridors with columns and windows, but unbroken horizontal lines still lend the hall their axial drive to enhance the apparent length of the corridor.[13]
Gilded Luxury
Corporations also use their wealth for the double purpose of impressing and satisfying their employees by decorating their buildings with expensive materials and costly items. General Motors, in its Technical Center, clads its water tower in stainless steel and provides the lobby of their manufacturing development wing with a grove of miniature orange trees.[14] Gannet/USA Today cover the floors of many of their rooms with marble, and covers their walls with works by famous Pop and Conceptual artists like Ed Ruscha and Joseph Kosuth, showing off their wealth and their high-culture savvy.[15] By surrounding their employees with expensive things in big rooms and long halls, corporations seek to provoke in them simultaneously the pride of the member of a powerful entity, the obedience of the out-matched inferior, and the pleasure of the pampered.
Productivity by Design
Corporations take the opportunities provided by building in the countryside to fine-tune the ideas they convey to their employees with their architecture. They surround their workers with big windows, strict geometry, and expensive, expansive spaces in an attempt to shape their minds, seeking to make them happier, but also more efficient and obedient. The search for productivity does not end with salaries: it permeates the design of nearly every element of the corporate building, even down to the chairs in the cafeteria.
Notes:
[1] Fred I. Steele, Physical Settings and Organization Development (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1973) 46.
[2] Retail Reporting Corporation, Corporate Interiors: Corporate Interiors Design Book Series No. 1 (New York: Retail Reporting Corporation, 1997) 74; Inside the Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters: Lehman-Smith + McLeish,ed. Sarah Palmer (New York: Edizioni Press, 2004). 16, 17, 19, 38, 76.
[3] Corporate Interiors 74-5; Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters 10-11, 38, 58.
[4] Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters 14-17, 76.
[5] General Motors Public Relations, Where Today Meets Tomorrow: General Motors Technical Center. (Detroit, MI: General Motors Corporation, 1956) engineering wing.
[6] Where Today Meets Tomorrow exterior of building.
[7] Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters 76.
[8] Hasan-Uddin Khan, International Style: Modernist Architecture 1925-65 (Koln: Taschen, 1998) 7, 13; Richard Weston, Modernism (London: Phaidon Press, 1996) 229-30.
[9] Where Today Meets Tomorrow research lobby; Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters 49.
[10] Where Today Meets Tomorrow research library.
[11] Corporate Interiors 74; Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters 19; Where Today Meets Tomorrowresearch cafeteria.
[12] Where Today Meets Tomorrow main corridor.
[13] Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters 10-11.
[14] Where Today Meets Tomorrow water tower, manufacturing development wing lobby.
[15] Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters 32, 34.
This is even clearer in the grand corridors of the General Motors Technical Center and the Gannet/USA Today complex: these long halls, by taking advantage of the perspective effects of unbroken lines, impress on employees their own smallness. The main corridor of the GM Technical Center is a vast tunnel that seems to stretch to infinity, an impression enhanced by the absence of pattern on any surface and the uninterrupted line of the fluorescent lights that run down the whole length of the ceiling.[12] The lack of interest along the hall increases its perceived length to someone walking down it, because there is nothing to look at to fill the time until the walker reaches his destination.he Gannet/USA Today building breaks the monotony of its corridors with columns and windows, but unbroken horizontal lines still lend the hall their axial drive to enhance the apparent length of the corridor.[13]
Gilded Luxury
Corporations also use their wealth for the double purpose of impressing and satisfying their employees by decorating their buildings with expensive materials and costly items. General Motors, in its Technical Center, clads its water tower in stainless steel and provides the lobby of their manufacturing development wing with a grove of miniature orange trees.[14] Gannet/USA Today cover the floors of many of their rooms with marble, and covers their walls with works by famous Pop and Conceptual artists like Ed Ruscha and Joseph Kosuth, showing off their wealth and their high-culture savvy.[15] By surrounding their employees with expensive things in big rooms and long halls, corporations seek to provoke in them simultaneously the pride of the member of a powerful entity, the obedience of the out-matched inferior, and the pleasure of the pampered.
Productivity by Design
Corporations take the opportunities provided by building in the countryside to fine-tune the ideas they convey to their employees with their architecture. They surround their workers with big windows, strict geometry, and expensive, expansive spaces in an attempt to shape their minds, seeking to make them happier, but also more efficient and obedient. The search for productivity does not end with salaries: it permeates the design of nearly every element of the corporate building, even down to the chairs in the cafeteria.
Notes:
[1] Fred I. Steele, Physical Settings and Organization Development (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1973) 46.
[2] Retail Reporting Corporation, Corporate Interiors: Corporate Interiors Design Book Series No. 1 (New York: Retail Reporting Corporation, 1997) 74; Inside the Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters: Lehman-Smith + McLeish,ed. Sarah Palmer (New York: Edizioni Press, 2004). 16, 17, 19, 38, 76.
[3] Corporate Interiors 74-5; Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters 10-11, 38, 58.
[4] Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters 14-17, 76.
[5] General Motors Public Relations, Where Today Meets Tomorrow: General Motors Technical Center. (Detroit, MI: General Motors Corporation, 1956) engineering wing.
[6] Where Today Meets Tomorrow exterior of building.
[7] Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters 76.
[8] Hasan-Uddin Khan, International Style: Modernist Architecture 1925-65 (Koln: Taschen, 1998) 7, 13; Richard Weston, Modernism (London: Phaidon Press, 1996) 229-30.
[9] Where Today Meets Tomorrow research lobby; Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters 49.
[10] Where Today Meets Tomorrow research library.
[11] Corporate Interiors 74; Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters 19; Where Today Meets Tomorrowresearch cafeteria.
[12] Where Today Meets Tomorrow main corridor.
[13] Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters 10-11.
[14] Where Today Meets Tomorrow water tower, manufacturing development wing lobby.
[15] Gannett/USA TODAY Corporate Headquarters 32, 34.