Thursday Posting: Corporate Architecture

Productivity

"Silicon Valley's landscape of leased, glass curtain-wall or tilt-up concrete slab construction R&D 'parks' constitutes the extreme example [of corporate architecture]. In that archetypal IT-driven landscape, the buildings are differentiated only by their corporate signage.”

-       Peter MacKeith, Associate Dean of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis.

Otten, Liam.  “Contemporary corporate architecture’s impact on communities examined.”  Washington University in St. Louis News & Information.  5 Oct. 2005.  Accessed 18 Feb. 2009. http://news-info.wustl.edu/tips/page/normal/5893.html

In his article Otten discusses the impact that corporate institutions, as well as churches, universities, and government buildings have had on the urban environment, since they stand for pillars that embody the values and culture of their societies.  Otten stresses the fact that now more than ever, corporations are deciding to locate on the outskirts of town, “distancing themselves from the means of production” while also contributing to urban sprawl.  According to Peter MacKeith, who Otten quotes, “The contemporary city of corporate architecture is constructed of standardized elements, homogeneous in their glass-enclosures, planned for maximum flexibility and insured for limited time periods.”  MacKeith also mentions that within these corporate headquarters, cafés, gyms, banks and day care centers are now provided for the employees, so that “daily contact with the external life of the city is no longer necessary.”  Otten then goes on to discuss the effectiveness of open-planned working environments, and whether or not they increase productivity or contribute to high employee turnover.  MacKetih notes that at Silicon Valley, the average length of employment is just eight months.  The rest of the article then goes on to mention sustainable development within the corporate world, and the key challenges that face architects today.  According to MacKeith, architects need to design buildings that create “a means of living and working, grounded in an ethical sensibility and in the natural world.”

The most interesting part of this article to me was when MacKeith mentioned that more corporate buildings are expanding to include cafés, gyms, banks, and daycare centers for their employees, all with the notion of increasing productivity.  Because of this the employees have less reasons to leave the building, and therefore less interaction with the real world.  It almost seems to me that corporations are creating their own tightly knit, private utopias.  While there is certainly nothing utopic about work, the fact that one building that serves various functions necessary to daily life, and the fact that it is exclusive to only employees speaks to the outermost ideas of a utopia.