BAM2019 Conference Proceedings

This study looks at creative offices as a form of control. The analysis at the moment is preliminary and focuses on the question of what kind values and behaviours are symbolically enforced by the spatial design, and what kind of worker subjectivities are assumed or imposed in consequence. The analysis focuses on two aspects of creative physical space in particular the politics of transparency and visibility and the politics of non spatiality. By the visual analysis of the pre existing photographs, the paper exposes darker sides of organizational efforts aimed at promoting creativity and high performance. Openness and transparency subject employees to an inescapable gaze, while the spatial solutions still seem to guard and protect the organizational boundaries. Non spatiality disguises references to the workplace as workplace, filling it with various, often simultaneous references to cafes, nature, kitchen, and other places usually visited during leisure time. On the other hand, there are also spatial references to classrooms or even factories with assembly lines, which have positive connotations such as learning and effectiveness, but also negative connotations, such as inferiority, subordination and standardization. By bringing up the value laden ideas and assumptions enforced by the contemporary design of creative offices, the aim is to expose them to be critically and openly discussed and questioned.