WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.100 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. We are so glad 00:00:02.100 --> 00:00:04.639 you're here. It's good to be here. Today we are 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:09.179 tackling a subject that is, well, it's so ubiquitous, 00:00:09.179 --> 00:00:12.660 so woven into the fabric of modern life that 00:00:12.660 --> 00:00:15.380 it's almost invisible to us. Completely. It's 00:00:15.380 --> 00:00:17.539 just the background radiation of our lives. It 00:00:17.539 --> 00:00:20.199 is. It's a place where we spend, what? Nearly 00:00:20.199 --> 00:00:22.480 a third of our adult lives. We commute to it. 00:00:22.519 --> 00:00:25.280 We complain about it. We organize our entire 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:28.140 existence around its hours. We drink its questionable 00:00:28.140 --> 00:00:31.079 coffee. We drink its questionable coffee. But 00:00:31.079 --> 00:00:34.299 we almost never stop to ask, what is it? I mean, 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:36.280 really, where did this whole concept come from? 00:00:36.460 --> 00:00:39.219 It's such a great point. It is the backdrop of 00:00:39.219 --> 00:00:41.859 the modern human experience. Yet we take its 00:00:41.859 --> 00:00:44.939 architecture, its history, and its psychological 00:00:44.939 --> 00:00:47.509 impact completely for granted. Yeah, we just 00:00:47.509 --> 00:00:49.630 accept it as the container for our days. Exactly. 00:00:49.630 --> 00:00:51.450 We are talking, of course, about the office. 00:00:51.530 --> 00:00:53.229 And before you roll your eyes and think, oh, 00:00:53.229 --> 00:00:55.909 great, a deep dive on spreadsheets and fluorescent 00:00:55.909 --> 00:00:58.789 lights, just, hmm. Because the sources we have 00:00:58.789 --> 00:01:01.810 today paint a picture that is, frankly, surprisingly 00:01:01.810 --> 00:01:04.870 dramatic. We're talking about Roman palaces, 00:01:05.170 --> 00:01:08.109 the British Navy, the psychological warfare of 00:01:08.109 --> 00:01:11.540 open floor plans. Oh, absolutely. and the invisible 00:01:11.540 --> 00:01:13.760 economics that decide whether you get a window 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:16.599 or a wall. It really is a fascinating evolution. 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:19.319 It is. When you look at the stack of research 00:01:19.319 --> 00:01:22.359 we have here, from architectural histories to 00:01:22.359 --> 00:01:25.140 psychological studies, you realize the office 00:01:25.140 --> 00:01:28.099 isn't just a room with a desk. It's a technology. 00:01:28.439 --> 00:01:32.170 A technology? It's a tool. A tool for control, 00:01:32.390 --> 00:01:34.909 for organization, and for better or worse, for 00:01:34.909 --> 00:01:37.890 shaping human behavior on a massive scale. Right. 00:01:37.950 --> 00:01:40.469 It's a machine we live inside. So, okay, let's 00:01:40.469 --> 00:01:42.109 start with the basics. If I asked someone on 00:01:42.109 --> 00:01:44.049 the street to define an office, I'd probably 00:01:44.049 --> 00:01:46.150 get, it's a place where I go to type on a computer. 00:01:46.390 --> 00:01:49.290 Sure. Or sit in a swivel chair. Exactly. But 00:01:49.290 --> 00:01:51.349 our sources suggest the definition is a little 00:01:51.349 --> 00:01:54.340 more... slippery than that. It is, yeah. If we 00:01:54.340 --> 00:01:56.599 look at the strict functional definition, an 00:01:56.599 --> 00:01:58.640 office is simply a space where administrative 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:01.780 work happens to support an organization's goals. 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:03.719 Okay, that sounds straightforward enough. But 00:02:03.719 --> 00:02:06.780 the physical form of that can be anything. It 00:02:06.780 --> 00:02:09.120 could be a massive glass skyscraper in a city 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:11.939 center, sure. But it could also be a single floor 00:02:11.939 --> 00:02:14.300 in a strip mall. A spare room in your house. 00:02:14.500 --> 00:02:16.659 Or even just a bench in the corner of a workshop. 00:02:16.939 --> 00:02:18.500 Right. And then there's the legal definition, 00:02:18.719 --> 00:02:21.039 which is where it gets really weird. This is 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:23.900 the part that I found so surprising. Go on. According 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:25.879 to the source material, a company is considered 00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:29.000 to have an office anywhere it has an official 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:32.060 presence. And the example they gave was wild. 00:02:32.300 --> 00:02:35.340 The storage silo. The storage silo. It said even 00:02:35.340 --> 00:02:37.560 if that presence is just a storage silo, that 00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:41.569 counts legally as an office. Which really stretches 00:02:41.569 --> 00:02:43.669 the imagination, doesn't it? We think of the 00:02:43.669 --> 00:02:46.409 office as the chair, the desk, the water cooler. 00:02:46.750 --> 00:02:49.310 But legally, it's just about the official presence. 00:02:49.550 --> 00:02:52.449 It's the footprint of the company. Exactly. A 00:02:52.449 --> 00:02:55.110 grain silo in the middle of a field can be the 00:02:55.110 --> 00:02:58.050 legal office, if that's where the company exists 00:02:58.050 --> 00:03:00.949 physically. I just love the image of a guy in 00:03:00.949 --> 00:03:03.729 a suit standing in a grain silo holding a briefcase. 00:03:03.789 --> 00:03:06.530 It's fantastic. But for the sake of our listeners 00:03:06.530 --> 00:03:09.530 today, when we talk about the office, we're really 00:03:09.530 --> 00:03:12.270 focusing on that environment where white -collar 00:03:12.270 --> 00:03:14.289 workers are. The architectural phenomenon, yes. 00:03:14.629 --> 00:03:17.250 The place where the magic or the drudgery happens. 00:03:17.710 --> 00:03:20.430 So here is the mission for this deep dive. We're 00:03:20.430 --> 00:03:22.650 going to uncover the history of the office, tracing 00:03:22.650 --> 00:03:25.530 it all the way from Roman scrolls to the very 00:03:25.530 --> 00:03:28.090 first skyscraper. And we'll get into the psychology 00:03:28.090 --> 00:03:30.599 of the design. Oh, yeah. That never -ending battle 00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:33.840 between open plans and cubicles that seems to 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:36.060 make everyone miserable in different ways. And 00:03:36.060 --> 00:03:37.699 we'll break down the economics, what makes a 00:03:37.699 --> 00:03:40.580 building Class A versus Class C. Essentially, 00:03:40.599 --> 00:03:43.319 we want to understand how the spaces we work 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:46.039 in shape how we work. And that's the crucial 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:49.340 link. As Winston Churchill famously said, we 00:03:49.340 --> 00:03:51.400 shape our buildings and thereafter they shape 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:54.759 us. And that is nowhere more true than in the 00:03:54.759 --> 00:03:58.020 office. So let's go back, way back. Etymology 00:03:58.020 --> 00:03:59.860 is always such a good place to start to understand 00:03:59.860 --> 00:04:02.599 the soul of a thing. When I hear the word office, 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:07.580 I just, I think of a physical box, a room. But 00:04:07.580 --> 00:04:09.520 you found that wasn't the original meaning at 00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:12.360 all. No, not even close. The word comes from 00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:16.259 the Latin officium. Officium, okay. And in ancient 00:04:16.259 --> 00:04:18.720 Rome, officium didn't mean a building. It didn't 00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:21.540 mean a place you went to. It meant a duty or 00:04:21.540 --> 00:04:24.220 a service. Oh, interesting. It could also refer 00:04:24.220 --> 00:04:28.569 to the staff. the people themselves, or the abstract 00:04:28.569 --> 00:04:32.089 position like the office of the magistrate. So 00:04:32.089 --> 00:04:34.149 in the Roman mind, you didn't go to the office. 00:04:34.269 --> 00:04:36.470 You were the office. Wow. You held the office. 00:04:36.810 --> 00:04:39.550 The office was a concept of responsibility that 00:04:39.550 --> 00:04:42.089 you carried with you. That's a huge mental shift. 00:04:42.329 --> 00:04:44.389 So when did it change? When did it become a... 00:04:44.540 --> 00:04:47.160 The shift in meaning to a physical location is 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:49.300 actually relatively recent in the grand scheme 00:04:49.300 --> 00:04:51.639 of things. The sources point out that it wasn't 00:04:51.639 --> 00:04:54.259 until around 1395 that the word started to change 00:04:54.259 --> 00:04:57.540 in English. 1395, so late Middle Ages. Right. 00:04:57.699 --> 00:05:00.040 And it's Geoffrey Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:02.699 who's one of the first recorded users of the 00:05:02.699 --> 00:05:05.399 word office to describe an actual place where 00:05:05.399 --> 00:05:07.860 business is transacted. So Chaucer did it. That's 00:05:07.860 --> 00:05:10.040 the pivot point. That's where the duty becomes 00:05:10.040 --> 00:05:13.970 a location. Good old Chaucer. Always inventing 00:05:13.970 --> 00:05:17.170 things. So, okay, before Chaucer, if you were 00:05:17.170 --> 00:05:19.870 in ancient Rome or Byzantium and you had paperwork 00:05:19.870 --> 00:05:21.670 to do, and we know they had a ton of paperwork, 00:05:21.829 --> 00:05:24.089 they ran massive empires, where did you do it? 00:05:24.209 --> 00:05:26.550 They certainly did. Rome ran on bureaucracy. 00:05:27.629 --> 00:05:30.730 But these offices were usually integrated into 00:05:30.730 --> 00:05:33.970 palace complexes or large temples. There wasn't 00:05:33.970 --> 00:05:36.149 a separate business district like we have today. 00:05:36.350 --> 00:05:38.649 So the administration was physically attached 00:05:38.649 --> 00:05:40.769 to the seat of power? Or the seat of religion, 00:05:40.930 --> 00:05:43.509 yeah. And this leads to a funny confusion for 00:05:43.509 --> 00:05:46.750 modern archaeologists. Oh, right. The library 00:05:46.750 --> 00:05:49.170 confusion. I loved this detail in the source 00:05:49.170 --> 00:05:51.829 material. It's a classic case of misinterpretation, 00:05:51.829 --> 00:05:54.329 isn't it? Archaeologists often dig up these rooms 00:05:54.329 --> 00:05:57.319 in ancient ruins. You know, Roman forums, Byzantine 00:05:57.319 --> 00:05:59.740 palaces. And they're filled with all these niches 00:05:59.740 --> 00:06:02.019 in the walls. And the immediate thought is library. 00:06:02.420 --> 00:06:05.360 The instinct is to call them libraries because, 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:08.399 well, they held scrolls. And we associate scrolls 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:11.259 with literature, poetry, philosophy. But they 00:06:11.259 --> 00:06:13.180 weren't sitting in there reading Homer. Exactly. 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:16.079 These were administrative centers. The scrolls 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:19.019 were tax records, grain inventories, legal decrees, 00:06:19.139 --> 00:06:21.759 census data. They were spreadsheets. They were 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:24.060 ancient spreadsheets. Yeah. These were offices 00:06:24.060 --> 00:06:26.360 in every functional sense. They were for record 00:06:26.360 --> 00:06:28.740 keeping and management. But because the medium 00:06:28.740 --> 00:06:31.800 was the scroll, we tend to romanticize them as 00:06:31.800 --> 00:06:34.939 libraries. I love that. The ancient tax auditor 00:06:34.939 --> 00:06:37.540 gets credit for being a philosopher just because 00:06:37.540 --> 00:06:40.350 he used parchment. Pretty much. It really changes 00:06:40.350 --> 00:06:43.329 how you visualize those ancient spaces. They 00:06:43.329 --> 00:06:45.970 weren't these quiet retreats for reading. They 00:06:45.970 --> 00:06:48.769 were probably bustling with clerks yelling about 00:06:48.769 --> 00:06:51.230 grain shipments from Egypt. Absolutely. It was 00:06:51.230 --> 00:06:53.329 the data center of the ancient world. So let's 00:06:53.329 --> 00:06:55.490 move forward to the Middle Ages. The years say 00:06:55.490 --> 00:06:59.310 1000 to 1300. This is where we see the chancery. 00:06:59.310 --> 00:07:01.939 The medieval chancery. Yes. This was essentially 00:07:01.939 --> 00:07:04.720 the government office of the day. It was where 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:07.339 the kingdom's laws were copied, official letters 00:07:07.339 --> 00:07:09.459 were written. And visually, this is where we 00:07:09.459 --> 00:07:11.660 start to see things that look familiar to the 00:07:11.660 --> 00:07:14.420 modern eye. The sources describe walls full of 00:07:14.420 --> 00:07:16.600 pigeonholes. Pigeonholes. Yeah. I mean, that's 00:07:16.600 --> 00:07:19.100 such a classic office image. We still use that 00:07:19.100 --> 00:07:21.500 word metaphorically today. We do. Don't pigeonhole 00:07:21.500 --> 00:07:23.439 me. And there were literally holes for pigeons. 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:26.300 Well, not for pigeons, but for rolled up parchment. 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:29.920 And if you think about it. That grid of pigeonholes 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:34.240 is the direct ancestor of the modern bookshelf. 00:07:34.399 --> 00:07:36.439 Or the filing cabinet. Or the filing cabinet. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:39.500 It's the same problem. How do I store a massive 00:07:39.500 --> 00:07:42.300 amount of information in a way that is retrievable? 00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:45.060 You create a grid. It's interesting, though, 00:07:45.139 --> 00:07:47.639 that even then there was this blur between the 00:07:47.639 --> 00:07:50.079 personal and the professional. The source mentions 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:52.519 that there was no real distinction between a 00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:55.379 private office and a private library in the Middle 00:07:55.379 --> 00:07:57.579 Ages. That's right. And that's largely because 00:07:57.579 --> 00:07:59.639 of the scarcity of books and writing materials. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:02.199 I mean, parchment was expensive. Literacy was 00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:04.779 rare. You wouldn't have a separate desk for work 00:08:04.779 --> 00:08:06.779 and a separate desk for leisure reading. You 00:08:06.779 --> 00:08:10.019 had one desk. Your one good desk. You had one 00:08:10.019 --> 00:08:12.860 desk. You read your devotional books there and 00:08:12.860 --> 00:08:15.220 you wrote your business letters there. The office 00:08:15.220 --> 00:08:18.519 as a distinct separate zone just for commerce 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:20.879 hadn't really calcified yet. It was just your 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:23.259 writing space. So when does that separation happen? 00:08:23.800 --> 00:08:26.199 When do we get the first building that is just 00:08:26.199 --> 00:08:28.300 for work, where you leave your house and go to 00:08:28.300 --> 00:08:31.240 a building that has no other purpose than administration? 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:34.080 For that, we have to look to the 18th century. 00:08:34.360 --> 00:08:37.320 And the catalyst, as with so many things in history, 00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:40.799 was the growth of large, complex organizations. 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:43.820 The original mega corporations. Specifically, 00:08:44.019 --> 00:08:46.480 navies and trading companies. Right. Running 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:49.139 a global empire requires a level of administration 00:08:49.139 --> 00:08:52.019 that you just can't do from a desk in your living 00:08:52.019 --> 00:08:54.799 room. You need an army of clerks. You need centralized 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:57.639 records. So we see the first purpose -built office 00:08:57.639 --> 00:09:00.279 building in Great Britain appearing in 1726, 00:09:00.639 --> 00:09:03.179 the Old Admiralty. The Ripley Building, yes. 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:06.279 It housed the Royal Navy's administration. And 00:09:06.279 --> 00:09:08.259 it had a boardroom, which is a key feature we 00:09:08.259 --> 00:09:10.600 still have today. But it also had apartments 00:09:10.600 --> 00:09:12.840 for the Lords of the Admiralty. So even then, 00:09:12.899 --> 00:09:15.759 people were living at work. In a sense. The bosses 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:18.960 had to be on site 247. And then later in the 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:22.080 1770s, you get Somerset House, which gathered 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:24.320 all the scattered Royal Navy offices into one 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:26.580 massive block. But the real titan of bureaucracy, 00:09:27.080 --> 00:09:29.700 the one that really changed the game, seems to 00:09:29.700 --> 00:09:32.340 be the East India Company. Oh, absolutely. East 00:09:32.340 --> 00:09:35.080 India House on Ledenhall Street, built in 1729. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:38.299 This place was the nerve center for administering 00:09:38.299 --> 00:09:41.240 vast colonial possessions in India. The scale 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:43.639 must have been incredible. Unimaginable. The 00:09:43.639 --> 00:09:46.279 sheer volume of paperwork meant they needed thousands 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:48.600 of clerks. It was a massive information processing 00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:51.600 machine. And this is where we see a major cultural 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:54.279 shift. Which is? The invention of clocking in. 00:09:54.460 --> 00:09:56.440 Wait, really? The East India Company invented 00:09:56.440 --> 00:09:59.539 clocking in? I thought that was like a 20th century 00:09:59.539 --> 00:10:01.879 factory thing. They were certainly early adopters 00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:04.600 of the concept on a massive scale. The company 00:10:04.600 --> 00:10:06.480 realized the benefit of centralized administration, 00:10:06.759 --> 00:10:09.289 but they had a problem. How do you manage thousands 00:10:09.289 --> 00:10:11.129 of people? You make them sign a piece of paper 00:10:11.129 --> 00:10:13.929 when they arrive. They required workers to sign 00:10:13.929 --> 00:10:16.769 in and out daily. It's the birth of the 9 -to 00:10:16.769 --> 00:10:19.350 -5 surveillance, in a way. You weren't just completing 00:10:19.350 --> 00:10:22.429 a task, you were selling your time. That is a 00:10:22.429 --> 00:10:25.590 pivotal moment, the commodification of presence. 00:10:26.009 --> 00:10:29.789 Before that, work was make this shoe or harvest 00:10:29.789 --> 00:10:31.450 this field. And when you were done, you were 00:10:31.450 --> 00:10:34.340 done. Right, now it's... Be in this room from 00:10:34.340 --> 00:10:37.299 this hour to that hour. Exactly. It defines the 00:10:37.299 --> 00:10:39.639 modern employment contract. And then, of course, 00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:41.960 the Industrial Revolution just kicks the door 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:44.519 down on all of this. Boom. Now it's not just 00:10:44.519 --> 00:10:46.860 the Navy and the East India Company. No. Now 00:10:46.860 --> 00:10:50.779 it's banking, rail, insurance, telegraphy. These 00:10:50.779 --> 00:10:53.399 industries grew explosively in the 19th century. 00:10:53.850 --> 00:10:56.090 And they're all information -heavy industries. 00:10:56.330 --> 00:10:58.549 A railroad isn't just trains. It's schedules, 00:10:58.809 --> 00:11:01.450 tickets, cargo manifests, payroll. They need 00:11:01.450 --> 00:11:04.009 massive amounts of order processing and accounting. 00:11:04.289 --> 00:11:06.149 And they needed somewhere to put all those clerks. 00:11:06.289 --> 00:11:08.009 Correct. And this brings us to the furniture. 00:11:08.309 --> 00:11:11.470 I found this detail fascinating. The desks of 00:11:11.470 --> 00:11:13.429 the 19th century were very different from what 00:11:13.429 --> 00:11:16.129 we have now. They're described as top -heavy. 00:11:16.570 --> 00:11:18.789 Yeah, the source mentioned they had cabinet -like 00:11:18.789 --> 00:11:21.870 cubbyholes above the workspace, like those old 00:11:21.870 --> 00:11:24.990 roll -top desks you see in movies. Right. Think 00:11:24.990 --> 00:11:27.149 of those beautiful antique desks. They have all 00:11:27.149 --> 00:11:28.850 these little nooks and crannies and highbacks. 00:11:29.070 --> 00:11:31.750 And what that did, completely accidentally... 00:11:32.539 --> 00:11:35.759 was offer privacy. Accidental privacy. I like 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:37.779 that. If you were a clerk sitting at one of those 00:11:37.779 --> 00:11:39.299 desks, you had a little wall of wood in front 00:11:39.299 --> 00:11:41.259 of you. You were in your own little cocoon. You 00:11:41.259 --> 00:11:42.960 couldn't see the guy in front of you, and he 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:44.620 couldn't see you. They didn't design it for mental 00:11:44.620 --> 00:11:47.360 health. They designed it for storage. But the 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:49.759 result was a bit of solitude. But enjoy that 00:11:49.759 --> 00:11:52.759 privacy while it lasts, folks, because the 20th 00:11:52.759 --> 00:11:55.059 century is coming for it. Before we get to the 00:11:55.059 --> 00:11:57.399 death of privacy, though, we have to talk about 00:11:57.399 --> 00:12:00.269 the buildings themselves growing up. Literally. 00:12:00.450 --> 00:12:03.450 The vertical shift, yes. This is simple economics. 00:12:03.730 --> 00:12:06.090 As these industries clustered in city centers, 00:12:06.269 --> 00:12:10.210 London, New York, Chicago land prices skyrocketed. 00:12:10.210 --> 00:12:12.029 You couldn't build out. There was no land left, 00:12:12.090 --> 00:12:14.190 so you had to build up. And the source mentions 00:12:14.190 --> 00:12:17.769 the Brunswick building in Liverpool, 1841, as 00:12:17.769 --> 00:12:20.830 the first purpose -built office block. But there 00:12:20.830 --> 00:12:23.210 was a technological limit, right? You could only 00:12:23.210 --> 00:12:25.509 ask people to walk up so many stairs. Exactly. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:28.659 Ten stories was about the limit of human endurance 00:12:28.659 --> 00:12:31.159 for a daily commute. If your office was on the 00:12:31.159 --> 00:12:33.700 12th floor, you were going to have a very sweaty, 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:36.759 very tired workforce. And a very unpopular boss. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:40.720 Right. But then, in 1852, Elisha Otis invents 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:43.120 the safety elevator. The game changer. Suddenly, 00:12:43.259 --> 00:12:45.440 the sky is the limit. You can stack hundreds 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:47.639 of offices on top of each other. And this creates 00:12:47.639 --> 00:12:50.039 the modern skyline, but it also creates the modern 00:12:50.039 --> 00:12:52.299 density of workers. You can now put thousands 00:12:52.299 --> 00:12:54.440 of people on a single footprint of land. Which 00:12:54.440 --> 00:12:56.620 brings us perfectly to the 20th century, the 00:12:56.620 --> 00:12:59.360 era of efficiency. And this is where the vibe 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:02.500 of the office really shifts from a gentlemanly 00:13:02.500 --> 00:13:05.480 administration to a factory for paper. It really 00:13:05.480 --> 00:13:08.940 does. And the scale just gets enormous. By 1906, 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:12.370 Sears, Roebuck, and Co. opened a headquarters 00:13:12.370 --> 00:13:15.330 in Chicago that was 3 million square feet. 3 00:13:15.330 --> 00:13:17.669 million square feet. I can't even picture that. 00:13:17.710 --> 00:13:19.610 That is a city. It was the largest building in 00:13:19.610 --> 00:13:22.330 the world at the time. And when you have a workforce 00:13:22.330 --> 00:13:25.230 that size, management starts looking for ways 00:13:25.230 --> 00:13:27.850 to optimize. They stop seeing individuals and 00:13:27.850 --> 00:13:30.409 start seeing a mass. Enter Frederick Winslow 00:13:30.409 --> 00:13:34.769 Taylor. And scientific management? Or... Taylorism. 00:13:34.809 --> 00:13:37.049 I feel like Taylor is the villain in so many 00:13:37.049 --> 00:13:40.129 stories about modern work. He is certainly a 00:13:40.129 --> 00:13:43.450 polarizing figure. Taylor pioneered time and 00:13:43.450 --> 00:13:46.169 motion studies and manufacturing, you know, measuring 00:13:46.169 --> 00:13:48.389 exactly how long it takes to turn a screw or 00:13:48.389 --> 00:13:50.629 lift a shovel. But then people like the Gilbreths 00:13:50.629 --> 00:13:53.029 applied this thinking to the office. They did. 00:13:53.149 --> 00:13:56.330 And the philosophy was managers need an active 00:13:56.330 --> 00:13:58.570 role in directing subordinates for efficiency. 00:13:59.149 --> 00:14:01.490 You can't just trust the clerk to do the work. 00:14:01.529 --> 00:14:04.669 You have to watch them do it. And this, this 00:14:04.669 --> 00:14:08.110 killed the cozy cabinet desk. It did. In 1915, 00:14:08.309 --> 00:14:10.610 the Equitable Life Insurance Company in New York 00:14:10.610 --> 00:14:13.330 introduced the modern efficiency desk. It just 00:14:13.330 --> 00:14:15.389 sounds ominous, doesn't it? The modern efficiency 00:14:15.389 --> 00:14:17.769 desk. It was a design revolution, had a flat 00:14:17.769 --> 00:14:21.090 top, no cubby holes, no high back. All the drawers 00:14:21.090 --> 00:14:23.169 were strictly below the waist. So nowhere to 00:14:23.169 --> 00:14:26.610 hide. Precisely. The why behind this design was 00:14:26.610 --> 00:14:29.789 explicitly surveillance. It removed the privacy 00:14:29.789 --> 00:14:32.769 of the old cabinet desks so managers had an easy, 00:14:32.870 --> 00:14:35.309 unobstructed view of the workers. So the open 00:14:35.309 --> 00:14:38.070 plan office, which we all think of as this modern, 00:14:38.169 --> 00:14:40.940 hip Silicon Valley thing. It actually started 00:14:40.940 --> 00:14:44.779 in 1915 as a way to spy on people. Yes. The source 00:14:44.779 --> 00:14:47.659 explicitly says this was the return of open spaces, 00:14:47.899 --> 00:14:50.220 not for collaboration, but for surveillance. 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:52.879 Wow. It was about turning the office into a factory 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:55.200 floor where the product was paper and the manager 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:57.899 was the foreman walking the lines. That is chilling. 00:14:58.019 --> 00:14:59.940 But it also makes so much sense of what came 00:14:59.940 --> 00:15:02.440 next. You have these vast open floors of flat 00:15:02.440 --> 00:15:05.820 desks, zero privacy. The noise must have been 00:15:05.820 --> 00:15:08.139 incredible. The lack of focus. And that leads 00:15:08.139 --> 00:15:10.460 us to the next big pivot. The war for privacy. 00:15:10.639 --> 00:15:12.679 To fight back. By the mid -20th century, companies 00:15:12.679 --> 00:15:14.679 started to realize that this factory floor approach 00:15:14.679 --> 00:15:17.620 had backfired. The total lack of privacy was 00:15:17.620 --> 00:15:19.600 causing tedium. It was hurting productivity. 00:15:20.039 --> 00:15:22.500 People felt exposed and stressed. So they needed 00:15:22.500 --> 00:15:26.379 the solution. Enter the cubicle. Or, as it was 00:15:26.379 --> 00:15:28.899 originally called, the action office. Action 00:15:28.899 --> 00:15:31.600 office sounds so much more dynamic than cubicle. 00:15:31.659 --> 00:15:33.639 It sounds like a place where things get done. 00:15:33.940 --> 00:15:37.779 That was the hope. In 1964, Robert Probst, a 00:15:37.779 --> 00:15:39.929 designer for Herman Miller, came up with the 00:15:39.929 --> 00:15:43.009 action office system. And his goal was actually 00:15:43.009 --> 00:15:46.029 very noble. What was he trying to do? He wanted 00:15:46.029 --> 00:15:49.129 to give knowledge workers a flexible, semi -private 00:15:49.129 --> 00:15:51.870 space that would encourage focus and collaboration. 00:15:52.370 --> 00:15:55.129 He wanted to liberate them from the open bullpens. 00:15:55.470 --> 00:15:58.769 He designed walls that could move, standing desks, 00:15:58.809 --> 00:16:01.509 different zones for different tasks. But it morphed 00:16:01.509 --> 00:16:04.029 into something else entirely. As companies adopted 00:16:04.029 --> 00:16:07.309 it, they realized, hey, we can just pack a lot 00:16:07.309 --> 00:16:10.480 of these little boxes into a room. The action 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:13.200 office devolved into the cubicle system. It became 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:16.320 a way to warehouse people. Pretty much. And the 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:18.200 source points out some really specific flaws 00:16:18.200 --> 00:16:21.120 with the cubicle. The famous Dilbert world. It 00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:23.399 solved visual privacy. You couldn't see your 00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:25.399 neighbor eating a sandwich. Which is a plus. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:28.620 A definite plus. But it failed completely at 00:16:28.620 --> 00:16:30.559 acoustic separation. Right. You can still hear 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:32.519 everything. The phone calls, the typing, the 00:16:32.519 --> 00:16:34.500 sighing, the chewing. It's the worst of both 00:16:34.500 --> 00:16:37.129 worlds. You feel alone because you have walls 00:16:37.129 --> 00:16:39.230 around your eyes, but you're constantly disturbed 00:16:39.230 --> 00:16:41.970 because you have no walls around your ears. And 00:16:41.970 --> 00:16:43.929 then there's the back problem. I never thought 00:16:43.929 --> 00:16:46.909 about this specifically, but it's so true. Cubicles 00:16:46.909 --> 00:16:49.690 often force you to sit with your back to the 00:16:49.690 --> 00:16:52.409 entrance of your workspace. It's a primal anxiety. 00:16:53.610 --> 00:16:55.490 Evolutionarily, we don't like having our backs 00:16:55.490 --> 00:16:58.129 exposed to the cave entrance. We want to see 00:16:58.129 --> 00:17:00.500 who is coming. And the source mentions that workers 00:17:00.500 --> 00:17:03.379 often use mirrors on their monitors. Little rearview 00:17:03.379 --> 00:17:05.740 mirrors. Yeah. Just to see people approaching. 00:17:05.779 --> 00:17:08.779 That speaks to a low -level constant state of 00:17:08.779 --> 00:17:11.779 vigilance that is just exhausting. If you have 00:17:11.779 --> 00:17:13.920 to install a rearview mirror at your desk, you 00:17:13.920 --> 00:17:17.849 are not relaxed. Not at all. Okay, so. We hated 00:17:17.849 --> 00:17:20.130 the open plan. So we built cubicles. Then we 00:17:20.130 --> 00:17:21.769 hated the cubicle. So what did we do? We went 00:17:21.769 --> 00:17:24.190 back to the open plan. We did. We just tore down 00:17:24.190 --> 00:17:26.529 the walls again. But this time we called it collaborative 00:17:26.529 --> 00:17:29.269 and innovative. We did. We rebranded it for the 00:17:29.269 --> 00:17:33.349 90s and 2000s. But the modern data on open plans 00:17:33.349 --> 00:17:37.650 is what's damning. Let's unpack that data. Because 00:17:37.650 --> 00:17:39.730 I think a lot of managers out there still believe 00:17:39.730 --> 00:17:43.029 open plans create synergy. The source cites research 00:17:43.029 --> 00:17:46.460 that shows open plan offices. are associated 00:17:46.460 --> 00:17:50.740 with increased stress and a 25 % uptick in negative 00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:54.539 moods. 25 %? That's a lot. It is. But here's 00:17:54.539 --> 00:17:57.900 the real paradox. They led to a 70 % decrease 00:17:57.900 --> 00:18:00.539 in face -to -face interactions. Wait, say that 00:18:00.539 --> 00:18:03.799 again. A 70 % decrease. The whole point is to 00:18:03.799 --> 00:18:06.740 make people talk. That's the theory. But the 00:18:06.740 --> 00:18:08.950 reality of human behavior is different. When 00:18:08.950 --> 00:18:11.029 you are in a fishbowl, when you're in a library 00:18:11.029 --> 00:18:13.750 -like open space, you don't want to be the person 00:18:13.750 --> 00:18:16.289 making noise and disturbing everyone else. You 00:18:16.289 --> 00:18:18.650 feel socially pressured to be quiet. Exactly. 00:18:19.109 --> 00:18:21.990 So what do you do? You put on headphones. You 00:18:21.990 --> 00:18:24.049 withdraw into your own little bubble. You send 00:18:24.049 --> 00:18:26.490 an email or a Slack message to the person sitting 00:18:26.490 --> 00:18:28.329 six feet away from you instead of talking to 00:18:28.329 --> 00:18:30.950 them. So the open plan actually creates a wall 00:18:30.950 --> 00:18:33.650 of silence. That is a perfect way to put it. 00:18:33.789 --> 00:18:36.230 We built walls of silence because we took down 00:18:36.230 --> 00:18:38.539 the walls of drywall. And productivity dropped 00:18:38.539 --> 00:18:42.440 up to 20 % due to distractions. It's just hard 00:18:42.440 --> 00:18:45.259 to do deep, focused work when you can see everyone 00:18:45.259 --> 00:18:47.640 walking by and hear every single conversation. 00:18:48.059 --> 00:18:50.099 Now, the source does mention a different approach 00:18:50.099 --> 00:18:53.579 to the open plan, the Japanese model. This seems 00:18:53.579 --> 00:18:55.799 like a cultural variation on the theme. Right, 00:18:55.880 --> 00:18:58.559 the island -style layout. Yes, this is very distinct 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:02.420 from the western rows of desks. In Japan, desks 00:19:02.420 --> 00:19:05.019 are often arranged in clusters or islands with 00:19:05.019 --> 00:19:06.799 people facing each other. How does that change 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:09.160 the dynamic? It's designed to promote teamwork 00:19:09.160 --> 00:19:12.700 and top -down management. Usually, the team sits 00:19:12.700 --> 00:19:15.240 together in a pod, and the manager sits at the 00:19:15.240 --> 00:19:17.519 head of the island, kind of like a captain at 00:19:17.519 --> 00:19:19.920 the helm. So it reinforces the group unit rather 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:22.940 than the individual. Precisely. And it facilitates 00:19:22.940 --> 00:19:25.640 some unique Japanese business concepts. The source 00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:28.470 mentions Uchi Aways and Ringisho. What are those? 00:19:28.750 --> 00:19:31.349 Uchi always refers to informal meetings. The 00:19:31.349 --> 00:19:33.869 island layout encourages quick, ad hoc check 00:19:33.869 --> 00:19:36.170 -ins at the desk without needing to book a formal 00:19:36.170 --> 00:19:38.210 room. You can just lean over and talk. Right. 00:19:38.329 --> 00:19:40.390 And Rigi shows us the consensus system. It's 00:19:40.390 --> 00:19:42.589 a way of circulating a proposal to get input 00:19:42.589 --> 00:19:44.930 from the group, literally passing a document 00:19:44.930 --> 00:19:47.289 around the island to build agreement before a 00:19:47.289 --> 00:19:49.509 final decision is made. So the physical space 00:19:49.509 --> 00:19:52.009 is built to support this collective decision 00:19:52.009 --> 00:19:54.960 -making style. It's a cycle. The culture dictates 00:19:54.960 --> 00:19:56.759 the furniture, and the furniture reinforces the 00:19:56.759 --> 00:19:59.119 culture. It's amazing. So, okay, we've talked 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:01.940 about the desk. But the modern office isn't just 00:20:01.940 --> 00:20:05.420 a sea of desks. It's a complex ecosystem. The 00:20:05.420 --> 00:20:07.799 source breaks down the anatomy of a modern office 00:20:07.799 --> 00:20:10.640 into zones. It does, and this is really important 00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:13.480 because a good office isn't one thing. It's a 00:20:13.480 --> 00:20:16.700 menu of spaces. The source identifies three main 00:20:16.700 --> 00:20:20.119 categories, workspaces, meeting spaces, and support 00:20:20.119 --> 00:20:22.369 spaces. Let's run through the workspaces first. 00:20:22.650 --> 00:20:24.970 There are nine types listed here. We've got the 00:20:24.970 --> 00:20:26.829 open office and the private office, which are 00:20:26.829 --> 00:20:29.089 the obvious ones. But what else stood out to 00:20:29.089 --> 00:20:31.230 you in this list? I think the nuances are interesting. 00:20:31.450 --> 00:20:34.420 For instance, the team space. This is a semi 00:20:34.420 --> 00:20:36.839 -enclosed area for maybe two to eight people. 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:39.720 It acknowledges that sometimes a small unit needs 00:20:39.720 --> 00:20:41.859 to be cut off from the herd to get things done. 00:20:42.019 --> 00:20:44.680 It's not a meeting room. It's a workroom. Exactly. 00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:47.839 Then there's the touchdown space. I like that 00:20:47.839 --> 00:20:49.480 name. The name says it all, doesn't it? It's 00:20:49.480 --> 00:20:52.000 an open space for one person designed for short 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:54.900 -term, low -concentration work. This is for the 00:20:54.900 --> 00:20:58.319 salesperson who is in the office for an hour 00:20:58.319 --> 00:21:01.369 between meetings. They don't need a dedicated 00:21:01.369 --> 00:21:03.730 desk with pictures of their dog. They just need 00:21:03.730 --> 00:21:06.490 a surface and a plug. A surface and a plug. And 00:21:06.490 --> 00:21:09.609 then there is the office pod. This feels very 00:21:09.609 --> 00:21:11.910 current. I see these everywhere now. The little 00:21:11.910 --> 00:21:14.529 phone booths. The little phone booths. The pod 00:21:14.529 --> 00:21:17.869 is the direct response to the failure of the 00:21:17.869 --> 00:21:20.690 open plan. It's a cost -effective way to buy 00:21:20.690 --> 00:21:23.630 privacy. If you can't build walls, you buy a 00:21:23.630 --> 00:21:25.809 soundproof booth for phone calls. It's a Band 00:21:25.809 --> 00:21:28.130 -Aid. It's a Band -Aid, but a necessary one in 00:21:28.130 --> 00:21:30.950 an open plan. Then we have meeting spaces. We've 00:21:30.950 --> 00:21:32.829 got the standard meeting rooms, but then there's 00:21:32.829 --> 00:21:35.089 the brainstorm room. Which is specifically distinguished 00:21:35.089 --> 00:21:37.269 from a normal meeting room. It's for workshops, 00:21:37.549 --> 00:21:40.410 usually 5 to 12 people. And the implication is 00:21:40.410 --> 00:21:42.329 that the furniture is different. Whiteboards 00:21:42.329 --> 00:21:45.910 on every wall. Movable chairs. Sticky notes everywhere. 00:21:46.089 --> 00:21:49.009 It's a space designed for active creation, not 00:21:49.009 --> 00:21:51.589 just passive listening. And the meeting point. 00:21:51.750 --> 00:21:54.650 Which is an ad hoc, informal spot for 2 to 4 00:21:54.650 --> 00:21:57.250 people. This is the water cooler conversation, 00:21:57.569 --> 00:22:00.069 but formalized. It's those standing tables you 00:22:00.069 --> 00:22:02.390 see in hallways. Right. It acknowledges that 00:22:02.390 --> 00:22:05.049 the best ideas often happen in the margins, not 00:22:05.049 --> 00:22:08.710 in the boardroom. Exactly. Finally, support spaces. 00:22:09.230 --> 00:22:11.569 These are the spaces that keep the humans alive. 00:22:12.150 --> 00:22:15.210 Pantries, break areas, locker areas. But there 00:22:15.210 --> 00:22:17.329 are some unexpected ones on this list for me. 00:22:17.509 --> 00:22:21.490 The smoking room was one. An enclosed space specifically 00:22:21.490 --> 00:22:23.730 for smoking. You don't see these in new builds 00:22:23.730 --> 00:22:26.190 in the U .S. or U .K. anymore, really, but historically 00:22:26.190 --> 00:22:29.009 and globally, they're a specific architectural 00:22:29.009 --> 00:22:31.410 feature. With heavy -duty ventilation systems. 00:22:31.750 --> 00:22:33.970 Hopefully. Then there's the games room, pool 00:22:33.970 --> 00:22:36.390 tables, darts. That's the dot -com influence, 00:22:36.569 --> 00:22:38.549 right? Trying to make work feel like a clubhouse 00:22:38.549 --> 00:22:40.190 so you never want to leave. That's the idea. 00:22:40.349 --> 00:22:42.390 And one that is legally mandatory now in the 00:22:42.390 --> 00:22:45.150 U .S., lactation rooms. Yeah, under the Patient 00:22:45.150 --> 00:22:48.009 Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. This 00:22:48.009 --> 00:22:50.750 is a crucial addition. It recognizes that workers 00:22:50.750 --> 00:22:54.549 have bodies and families. It's a dedicated, private 00:22:54.549 --> 00:22:57.369 support space that isn't a bathroom. It represents 00:22:57.369 --> 00:23:00.009 a huge shift in who the office is designed for. 00:23:00.170 --> 00:23:03.190 It's not just for the male clerk of 1915 anymore. 00:23:03.549 --> 00:23:06.069 It's for a diverse workforce. It's a long way 00:23:06.069 --> 00:23:08.150 from the pigeonholes of the Middle Ages. It really 00:23:08.150 --> 00:23:10.569 is. Now, we have to talk about the invisible 00:23:10.569 --> 00:23:14.789 hand that shapes all of this. Money. Real estate. 00:23:15.089 --> 00:23:17.450 The business of buildings? We walk into these 00:23:17.450 --> 00:23:20.569 lobbies. with marble floors and security guards, 00:23:20.750 --> 00:23:23.289 but we rarely think about the lease structure 00:23:23.289 --> 00:23:25.990 or the grading systems that put them there. It's 00:23:25.990 --> 00:23:28.869 a massive industry. Office buildings are commercial 00:23:28.869 --> 00:23:31.849 buildings specifically designed for admin work. 00:23:32.049 --> 00:23:34.230 That means they have to handle specific technical 00:23:34.230 --> 00:23:37.609 needs, light levels, networking, HVAC loads. 00:23:37.789 --> 00:23:40.430 It's a very specific asset class. And the rental 00:23:40.430 --> 00:23:42.950 economics are fascinating. How is rent even quoted? 00:23:43.230 --> 00:23:46.190 It's usually cost per floor area per time. So 00:23:46.190 --> 00:23:48.849 you might see a number like $29 per square foot 00:23:48.849 --> 00:23:51.170 per year. Okay, so if I rent 1 ,000 square feet, 00:23:51.230 --> 00:23:54.589 I'm paying $29 ,000 a year. Roughly, yes. But 00:23:54.589 --> 00:23:57.829 the devil is in the lease type. And this is something 00:23:57.829 --> 00:24:00.329 every aspiring entrepreneur needs to know. You 00:24:00.329 --> 00:24:02.490 have the gross lease and the triple net lease. 00:24:02.650 --> 00:24:04.329 Break those down. What's the difference? A gross 00:24:04.329 --> 00:24:06.829 lease is all -inclusive. You pay your one rent 00:24:06.829 --> 00:24:09.609 check, and the landlord covers utilities, taxes, 00:24:09.829 --> 00:24:13.019 repairs, janitorial services. It's simple. You 00:24:13.019 --> 00:24:15.079 know your monthly cost. And triple net, that 00:24:15.079 --> 00:24:17.119 sounds ominous. It's the one to watch out for. 00:24:17.220 --> 00:24:19.980 In a triple net lease, the tenant pays a share 00:24:19.980 --> 00:24:22.500 of everything. Everything. You pay the base rent, 00:24:22.599 --> 00:24:25.299 plus property taxes, insurance, maintenance, 00:24:25.660 --> 00:24:29.319 climate control, landscaping, janitorial, the 00:24:29.319 --> 00:24:31.259 whole shebang. So if the air conditioning for 00:24:31.259 --> 00:24:33.599 the whole building breaks? You might be paying 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:36.019 for a portion of that repair based on the square 00:24:36.019 --> 00:24:38.970 footage you occupy. Wow. Wow. So the advertised 00:24:38.970 --> 00:24:41.670 rent might look low, but the actual cost could 00:24:41.670 --> 00:24:44.210 be much, much higher. Exactly. It shifts the 00:24:44.210 --> 00:24:46.190 risk from the landlord to the tenant. And then 00:24:46.190 --> 00:24:49.349 there is the class system. Literally. BOMA, the 00:24:49.349 --> 00:24:51.390 building owners and managers association, grades 00:24:51.390 --> 00:24:54.009 office buildings. Class A, class B, and class 00:24:54.009 --> 00:24:56.069 C. It sounds like a report card for buildings. 00:24:56.349 --> 00:24:59.150 It basically is. Class A is the most prestigious. 00:24:59.789 --> 00:25:03.130 These are the trophy buildings. State -of -the 00:25:03.130 --> 00:25:05.930 -art systems, exceptional accessibility, a definite 00:25:05.930 --> 00:25:08.390 market presence. If you're a high -powered law 00:25:08.390 --> 00:25:11.190 firm, you pay for Class A to signal your success. 00:25:11.490 --> 00:25:14.769 Okay. And Class B? Average. Adequate systems, 00:25:14.990 --> 00:25:17.809 fair finishes. It competes for a wide range of 00:25:17.809 --> 00:25:20.190 users. It's a solid building, but it doesn't 00:25:20.190 --> 00:25:22.349 have that wow factor of a Class A. And Class 00:25:22.349 --> 00:25:25.569 C is? Functional space at below -average rents. 00:25:25.609 --> 00:25:27.990 This is for tenants who just need a roof and 00:25:27.990 --> 00:25:30.450 a power outlet. The finishes might be dated, 00:25:30.630 --> 00:25:33.799 the lobby might be small, but it works. But the 00:25:33.799 --> 00:25:36.000 source notes that real estate agents often push 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:38.079 the boundaries with this. Oh, always. You'll 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:41.319 see class A plus or class B. It's marketing. 00:25:41.460 --> 00:25:42.720 Everyone wants to believe they're in a class 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:45.319 A building. Of course. So we've covered the history, 00:25:45.500 --> 00:25:48.319 the design, the money. And usually we try to 00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:50.380 wrap up with a neat summary. But looking at this 00:25:50.380 --> 00:25:52.799 whole picture from the scroll to the Zoom pod, 00:25:53.039 --> 00:25:55.759 it feels like we are in a constant cycle. It 00:25:55.759 --> 00:25:57.779 really is a cycle. We started with the pigeonhole 00:25:57.779 --> 00:26:00.480 and the cabinet desk, these little private nooks. 00:26:00.500 --> 00:26:03.420 Accidental privacy. Then Taylorism tore down 00:26:03.420 --> 00:26:05.980 the walls for surveillance. Then we built cubicles 00:26:05.980 --> 00:26:08.680 to give privacy back. Then we tore down the cubicles 00:26:08.680 --> 00:26:12.299 for collaboration. And now. And now the data 00:26:12.299 --> 00:26:14.519 suggests we might be turning back again. This 00:26:14.519 --> 00:26:16.859 is the final provocative thought from our sources. 00:26:17.299 --> 00:26:20.839 There is a post -pandemic trend emerging. Private 00:26:20.839 --> 00:26:24.019 cell office plans. Cell office. It sounds like 00:26:24.019 --> 00:26:25.920 a prison, but it's actually what people seem 00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:27.960 to want. It's essentially a return to the private 00:26:27.960 --> 00:26:31.039 office. A small room with a door. And the data 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:32.960 that's coming out reports that these layouts 00:26:32.960 --> 00:26:36.240 enhance productivity by up to 22 percent. 22 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:39.660 percent is huge. Any CEO would kill for a 22 00:26:39.660 --> 00:26:42.619 percent productivity bump. It is. These plans 00:26:42.619 --> 00:26:44.859 address health precautions, obviously, which 00:26:44.859 --> 00:26:47.299 is on everyone's mind now. But they also address 00:26:47.299 --> 00:26:49.599 the distraction crisis that the open plan created. 00:26:49.819 --> 00:26:51.740 So are we about to see the death of the open 00:26:51.740 --> 00:26:54.039 plan and the return of the door? The office of 00:26:54.039 --> 00:26:55.980 the future might actually look a lot more like 00:26:55.980 --> 00:26:59.609 the office of the past. Walls. Doors. Quiet. 00:26:59.769 --> 00:27:01.990 The return of the door. I like the sound of that. 00:27:02.150 --> 00:27:03.990 It raises a big question for you, the listener. 00:27:04.329 --> 00:27:07.630 If you feel exhausted at work, if you feel like 00:27:07.630 --> 00:27:12.509 you can't think, is it you? Or is it the architecture? 00:27:12.769 --> 00:27:14.710 Is it the building itself that's wearing you 00:27:14.710 --> 00:27:17.200 down? That is something to mull over the next 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.180 time you are trying to have a private phone call 00:27:19.180 --> 00:27:22.119 in a glass box. Indeed. Thank you so much for 00:27:22.119 --> 00:27:23.960 walking us through this. I will never look at 00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:26.859 a cubicle or a storage silo the same way again. 00:27:27.019 --> 00:27:29.099 My pleasure. It was fascinating stuff. And thank 00:27:29.099 --> 00:27:31.420 you for listening to this deep dive. We'll catch 00:27:31.420 --> 00:27:32.019 you next time.