Planning and design office interior / Aisah Lamsah

In the past, books about the planning and design of offices generally
fell into two categories. One described the practical problems of
"how to," The second presented office design in beautiful photographs
of handsome installations. Up until now, there has been very little
discussion of the critical issues that underlie planning and design
decisions. Such a lack of self-examination may be attributed to the
rapid growth of the field.
Recently, designers and management have begun to examine the elements
that comprise the work environment. What is emerging is a new and
unique realization - that the space planner, whether architect or
interior designer, is part of a management consulting team.
This book is concerned with examining the basic problems of design and
planning with regard to the growing body of knowledge of how people work
and the changing technologies of the office. It is an expanding subject
with contributions from a host of consultants in the social sciences,
hardware, acoustics, computers, lighting, paper flow, and audiovisual
fields. The aesthetic, functional, and psychological aspects of the
office have become very specialized subjects in a relatively short
period of time. Because it is a serious subject for examination and
study, the office offers a creative challenge to designers and architects.
The problem of putting people and furniture in space does not exist in a
vacuum. Pragmatically, the furniture and space in our buildings are not
ideal. Buildings constructed for tenants may work well for small firms,
such as lawyers and insurance companies, but may beunsuited for large .
users of space who might be a single tenant of a floor or more. The
architect cannot be a hero to both kinds of users. If management
decides to build its own facility, can designers suggest the ideal space
for that purpose? Designers are still learning about space. They are
learning about how large and unlimited a space can be before we feel it
is too large. We still cannot say what the most comfortable and
"efficient size of space would be to work in, 8,000, 20,000, or
40,000 square feet.