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The seemingly random cluster of desks was done very intentionally and based on work paths and roles within the company. This flexibly made Bürolandschaft a very exciting option for companies, since it wasn’t “one size fits all”. Their approach to office design allowed for different spaces to be dealt
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Typical designs used contemporary but conventional furniture which was available at the time. Standard desks and chairs were used, with lateral file cabinets, curved screens, and large potted plants used as visual barriers and space definers. Floor plans frequently used irregular geometry and
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The post-World War II social-democratic environment in many
Northern European countries engendered an egalitarian management approach. Office landscape encouraged all levels of staff to sit together in one open floor to create a non-hierarchical environment that increased communication and
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and consisted of uninspired rows of desks and a strict office hierarchy as an opportunity for change. They wanted to create a system where the individual is the focus, and rebel against the strict grid of corridors and desks with something organic and natural. Their approach was called
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A large pull for these adopters of BĂĽrolandschaft was its affordability. Since no permanent partitions or walls needed to be constructed, the adaptable partitions made it very easy to deal with changes, whether it be upsizing or downsizing of employees.
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In 1958, the
Quickborner consulting group was established by two brothers, Wolfgang and Eberhard Schnelle, who had previously been working as assistants in their father’s furniture studio. Upon founding Quickborner outside of
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organic circulation patterns to enhance the egalitarian nature of the plan. Many designs used slightly lower than normal occupancy density to mitigate the acoustical problems inherent in open designs.
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1958. He had been developing ideas of flexible office space design in the U.S around the same time as the
Schnelle brothers in Germany. His concept was a flexible work environment known as
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The general
European mentality towards innovative forms of office design in the 1940 and 1950s was that of caution and hesitation following the devastating effects left from
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Initially, the layouts typical of these systems imitated the irregular, organic forms of office landscape. However, Propst's Action Desk degenerated into the regimented
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due to standardization of parts in manufacturing and space efficiency. The sea of cubicles effectively replaced office landscape by the mid-1970s.
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as a space planning firm, the two brothers soon developed an interest in office space. They saw the current status quo, which used versions of
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open to new thinking. This openness led to the interjection of a concept that would quickly populate areas all over Europe and North
America.
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which sought to provide some of the advantages of office landscape, but with slightly greater privacy, density, and storage capacity.
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operated with closed-door offices and scaled-down versions of the massive bullpen offices that were found in skyscrapers across the
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Portion of an office landscape floor plan, showing traditional desks, curved screens, potted plants, and organic geometry
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that aimed to pair the adaptability and openness of BĂĽrolandschaft with more privacy and personalization for employees.
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Office furniture companies quickly developed panel-hung systems and other types of
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that typically used irregular geometry and organic circulation patterns.
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with differently. The consistencies within this approach included an
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Bürolandschaft, a German term that translates to “office landscape”.
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The first company to be commissioned by
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common in modern offices and reminiscent of earlier
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An early advocate for BĂĽrolandschaft in
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Type of open plan using irregular angles and plants
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63:. Before the 1950s, the majority of offices in
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