Today, an estimated 40 million people in North America work in half-walled clusters of cubed synthetic office furniture, commonly known as cubicles. Started when American design firm Herman Miller approached inventor and artist Robert Probst to identify problems outside the traditional furniture market, these ubiquitous features of the global office space began as a forward-thinking design solution.
According to a recent article in The Economist, “Propst thought workers should have standing and sitting desks. He designed a perching seat, dreamed up display surfaces and created a prototype napping pad, an inch and a quarter thick and two feet wide (3cm by 60cm), that could be hung up for storage. Sleeping in the office, he thought, would make people more productive. He was, in many ways, ahead of his time.”
What resulted horrified the inventor. In efforts to maximize square footage the cubicle was born. Though the cramped spaces were experienced immediately, soon other drawbacks of the modernized work environment came about including the increased spread of disease, noise levels, ventilation issues and even formaldehyde fumes from the furniture.
While many solution attempts have been made to open up floor plans, increase productivity and improve office morale, overall space for employees is still dwindling. “In 1994 the average North American office worker had 90 square feet of space. By 2010 this was 75 square feet.”
“What workers need from their offices has long been clear. A flexible workspace that encourages movement, combined with mobile technology, could finally liberate them from the cubicle farm—but only if employers pay heed to the evidence, rather than the short-term savings. Even cubicles were Utopian before the accountants took over.”