Office Design
In developing a company in a given
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In developing a company in a given industry, most people think of issues of a business plan, a location, personnel, procedures to be followed, accounting systems to be instituted, and today, the computer system that would best serve the business. What many fail to consider is the importance of office design, which will be considered here in the context of international advertising with reference to three firms and the architectural design they developed for their offices. The three firms are Wells BDDP in Manhattan, BBDO West, and Ogilvy and Mather in Chicago. An analysis of the designs for these three firms will show how their respective architectural firms solved problems, shaped the office for the kind of business done, and created an image that would appeal to clients while serving the business needs of employees and management. From this analysis will emerge ideas about proper design and a selection of which of the three has done the best job in addressing the issues involved. Frantois de Menil is the architect responsible for the Wells BDDP office in Manhattan. In a report on this office in Interior Design, the author notes that office design issues finally come down to basic questions of real estate, personnel count, and specific business concerns, which usually take precedence over any conceptualizing about the workplace. Wells BDDP is part of the Omnicom group, and to solve its problems, the company presented de Menil with a packa
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fact it is completed. This raw design is seen not only as an architectural innovation but also as evidence of a change in the corporate mindset of the advertising agency. Earlier quarters for the agency had been characterized by a traditional closed office design with gray walls, gray carpeting, and a logo engraved in gray granite. In the new office, all corporate status symbols are removed.
The new office covers two floors and has a total of 49,000 square feet. The office design is seen as embodying the business conducted there, seeing creativity not as a final product or particular image but as a fluid process. Thus, the unfinished nature of the design is an asset. The primary shift was from a closed office design to an egalitarian design where everyone occupies the same-sized work station, with the only exception being for media buyers whose offices encompass the same 80 square feet as the work stations but who are separated because of the nature of their work. The shift also included a redesign of the company structure as well. Instead of having the usual divisions determined by department, personnel is now grouped according to core client teams with all members of one group seated together.
The work stations are
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Los Angeles, De Menil, Ogilvy Mather, David Ogilvy, BDDP Omnicom, BBDO West, Maddox Associates, , Adelaide Horton, Eva Maddox, ogilvy mather, office design, bbdo west, de menil, square feet, advertising agency, interior design, corporate philosophy, corporate philosophy agency, cohen edie, issues business, closed office design,
Approximate Word count = 1854
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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