White noise space

       Jooyun Kim's 
Spacebranding vol.30

"A complex and cluttered space like white noise increases the concentration of work."

<Office Space>
If you look at the comparison of the world's 10 largest companies in 2006 and 2016 announced by the World Economic Forum, Microsoft was the only IT company in the energy, electricity/electronics, and finance industries in 2006. However, in 2016, the landscape changed significantly, and Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook were all occupied by IT or software groups from 1st to 5th place. 

As of 2022, the topography has not changed significantly. The center of industrial guidance has changed from the manufacturing industry to the high-tech knowledge and information industry. Although individual imagination is not required for manufacturing-based system management, creativity and imagination of organizational members are fundamental and essential to the growth and operation of companies in the information and smart industries.

LocHal Public Library, Tilburg, the Netherlands © Ossip Architectuurfotografie from https://bustler.net/news/7603/the-2019-world-building-of-the-year-is-lochal-a-stunning-adaptive-reuse-public-library-project-in-tilburg-nl

In order to support employees' creative activities, the spatial environment of offices in the information industry has recently shown a big change different from the past format.

Just as Michelle Thomas changed the customized classroom space into an environment where students can relax and feel curious before teaching in the previous article, IT office spaces such as Google and Facebook have become different from traditional office spaces, namely, relax and stimulate curiosity.

<White noise space>
Each department is aligned according to the hierarchy, and offices for static traditional office workers can achieve results if they require accuracy, mistakes, and sensitivity, but they are very harmful to tasks requiring creative thinking.1) The distracting feeling seen in IT office spaces such as Google is the reason why the atmosphere is complicated and cluttered like white noise increases the concentration of work and eventually is the result of spatial research to increase corporate productivity.

Image from https://www.decorilla.com/online-decorating/essential-checklist-for-your-office-interior-design/

As Steve Jobs said when building the Pixar office building, creativity comes from chance encounters and random discussions, so "if the building doesn't encourage that, you can lose a lot of the innovation and magic that comes from unexpected discoveries." Steve Jobs was a person who instinctively knew the importance of space.2) John Ruskin, a British social critic, said he wanted the building to protect us and at the same time talk to us.

Comcast Technology Center Office, Philadelphia ©Jooyun Kim

Architecture speaks of democracy or aristocracy, openness or arrogance, welcome or threat, sympathy for the future or longing for the past. Architecture expresses the impression of the psychological or moral attitude it supports. "It may be a religious atmosphere, an academic atmosphere, a rural atmosphere, a modern atmosphere, a social atmosphere, or a family atmosphere."3)

<Does space function according to the purpose?>
Earlier, Thomas pointed out that the spatial environment of the university classroom is the same as the space he lived in when he was young, asking the important question of the school, "Are you making the space function according to the purpose of the space?" The school space should be a space where you can focus on learning, and the office space of a company should be a space where you can increase productivity.

Tesima Museum ©Jooyun Kim

I ask myself once again. Aren't we just unconsciously accepting space as 'air' without thinking about its importance? Modernist architecture, where engineering was important, was responsible for this treatment of space. They viewed beauty only as a physical 'function', and such a view was expressed as emotional doubt by postmodernism.

Space is the atmosphere. The atmosphere of the brand space should be suitable for the purpose of building and expanding the brand impression.






<5 Summaries>

"A complex and cluttered space like white noise increases the concentration of work."

"Information and smart industries, the creativity and imagination of members are fundamental and essential to the growth and operation of companies."

"Unlike traditional office spaces, information industry spaces have become environments that relax and stimulate curiosity."

"If the building doesn't encourage that, it can lose a lot of the innovation and magic that comes from unexpected discoveries."

"Space is the atmosphere. The atmosphere of the brand space should be suitable for building and expanding the brand's impression." 



1) Ron Friedman, The Best Place to Work: The Art and Science of Creating an Extraordinary Workplace, TarcherPerigee, 2015, pp. 58
2) Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs, Simon & Schuster Audio, 2011, pp. 683
3) de Botton, Alain, The Architecture of Happiness, Simon Vance(NRT), 2009, pp. 80, 68-69 




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