Archinect - News2024-11-12T15:07:59-05:00https://archinect.com/news/article/150428453/the-corner-office-s-long-era-of-dominance-is-over-make-way-for-the-new-workplace-power-symbols-says-the-atlantic
The corner office's long era of dominance is over. Make way for the new 'Workplace Power Symbols' says The Atlantic Josh Niland2024-05-21T17:43:00-04:00>2024-05-22T13:41:49-04:00
<img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/23/23faafb0dc1de2c35321560a82b1b0c8.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>Many modern companies “have as many conference rooms as there are executives,” [Kay] Sargent said, and it’s become a “dirty little secret” that conference rooms are the new corner offices. [...] When a high-ranking executive parks themselves in a big conference room or spreads their stuff across the long table in the office coffee shop, no one is going to tell them to leave.</p></em><br /><br /><p>The influence that <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/26/google" target="_blank">Google</a> exerted over <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/65945/office-design" target="_blank">office design</a> in the 2000s has been credited with starting the movement toward a post-COVID reality in which the private spaces within offices now occupy only 45% of the total footprint. (H/t <a href="https://www.costar.com/article/1832394626/heres-how-companies-rework-smaller-offices-to-adapt-to-workplace-shifts" target="_blank">CoStar.com</a> from January)</p>
<p>Still, <em>The Atlantic</em>’s Michael Waters writes: “We may one day return to an older layout of explicit hierarchy: [Lenny] Beaudoin, the CBRE designer, told me that he recently worked with a bank that decided to <em>reinstall</em> corner offices for a group of senior leaders, hoping it would bring them back to the office. But even if recent changes prove lasting, with space designed to be up for grabs, there won’t be any illusions about who has the power to grab it.”</p>