Episode 704: Open Office

By Nick Fountain,

Stacey Vanek Smith

Published August 8, 2018 at 10:49 AM CDT

1 of 5 — The Chiat/Day open plan office was designed to look like a giant living room.

The Chiat/Day open plan office was designed to look like a giant living room.

2 of 5 — One person who worked in the office said "it was like sitting inside a migraine."

One person who worked in the office said "it was like sitting inside a migraine."

3 of 5 — One of the meeting nooks in the Chiat/Day office, designed by architect Gaetano Pesce.

One of the meeting nooks in the Chiat/Day office, designed by architect Gaetano Pesce.

4 of 5 — The brightly colored plastic resin flooring was poured by architect Gaetano Pesce himself.

The brightly colored plastic resin flooring was poured by architect Gaetano Pesce himself.

5 of 5 — The booth where Chiat/Day employees checked out their cell phone and laptop for the day.

The booth where Chiat/Day employees checked out their cell phone and laptop for the day.

Walls, doors, privacy--if you work a desk job in America you probably do not have have these luxuries anymore.

This is the age of the open office, of half-cubicles and clustered desks, of huge rooms of long communal tables with white-collar workers shoulder-to-shoulder, sometimes wearing $350 noise-cancelling headphones to block out the clatter. Then over to the side, maybe there's an airy lounge space with sofas and a comfy chair or two. Maybe there's even a ping pong table on the way to the bathroom.

This way of working is often traced to tech startups: The open office feels nimble, informal, and social, just like tech startups, right? Then older companies saw the results from Silicon Valley — flexibility! innovation! collaboration! — and they wanted in. To grow like a tech company, why not look like one? The open office spread, and now seventy percent of American offices are open plan. That's how the story goes.

But the idea to tear down the walls in search of creativity did not come from Silicon Valley.

On today's show, we hear how a vision on a mountaintop led to the birth of the open office, and meet the stylish man that brought that idea to life (and, probably, to a workplace near you).

Plus, you get to hear what our open office sounds like in all its cacophonous glory. Radio reporters, not so quiet!

Music: "Just Like Me" and "Feel Good Groove."

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