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On 3 Mar 2005, Philip Newton wrote:
> On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 18:47:21 -0500, Foofy <foofy@xxxxxx.xxx> wrote:
>> On Wed, 02 Mar 2005 18:32:45 -0500, Daniel Pittman <daniel@xxxxxxxx.xxx>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Ahem. This is a list for /software/ rants, isn't it. Sorry.
>>> Daniel
>>
>> Maybe we need another list for hateful architecture. I could rant for days
>> about that cold concrete monster of a library they built in Elmira. Few
>> windows, poor lighting (who wants to read at a library anyway?) Considered
>> a gem of design until people realized staying for more than a few minutes
>> brought tears.
>
> Yes, or the new building we'll be moving to in a couple of weeks,
> where things such as placement of doors or non-placement of walls seem
> to be governed more by "what will look good / make the corridor nice
> and light" than by "what will make computer programmers able to keep
> working productively with a minimum of interruptions and
> distractions".
Ah, lighting and computer users. I remember having a somewhat painful
disagreement with our CEO and MD, when they were doing the design and
kit-out of our new offices[1], about this.
They were terribly excited, you see, about two features of the new
office design:
It threw plenty of natural light into every workspace, all day, with
direct sun for a good part of each day.
It kept divisions between staff to a minimum, and ensured that there was
no workspace where you didn't have other staff and public areas both
behind and in front of you.
For staff who spend their day doing two things: working on computers,
and talking on the phone to clients. All day, every day.
Oddly enough, our very traditional MD, and our CEO, both of whom were
not really all that computer savvy, thought these features were great.
I couldn't sway them by pointing out that noise and glare would be
serious problems for everyone, all the time. I did end up buying over
sixty anti-glare screens, though, as each department head approved them
for all their staff...
I wish that the original ideas behind the office cubical design had
taken off, rather than the space and money saving rat-hole they are
always implemented as these days.
Daniel
Footnotes:
[1] Well, actually, both times they did it in the last year I was
there, but I didn't care so much the last time since I had quit
already.
--
The great end of life is not knowledge, but action. What men need is as much
knowledge as they can organize for action; give them more and it may become
injurious. Some men are heavy and stupid from undigested learning.
-- Thomas Henry Huxley
There's stuff above here
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