OFFICE

Dear Readers,

Electronic media makes office work possible at any time and in any environment. Checking mails in s street café, editing texts on the train, considering quotations on the terrace at home… Sitting down at one’s desk to “work” almost feels antiquated. Mind you, with more than 13 million office employees in Germany, this development affects more than one third of the working population – so it’s quite clear that there is disagreement as to where this will lead. While some get their trolley from the docking station to find a workplace in the non-territorial open-plan office, others appreciate their personal desk with the never changing view from the window and the child’s drawings next to the computer screen. As always, the truth lies somewhere inbetween! By means of 20 international projects starting on page 84 of this office issue we show you how differently high-quality, well-designed workplaces can be if they have been conceived by architects und interior designers. In impressive pictures, photographer Konrad Rufus Müller captured how “pale theoreticians” individually set themselves up at their personal workplace (as from page 130), while writer Sten Nadolny forges a bridge – a very entertaining one – from his first own desk to the notebook. The essay by our AIT columnist Dominik Reding starting on page 52 is about a 1960s office equipment and its mysterious originator – it’s a must read!! The demands on office workplaces have, of course, changed over the last 50 years: besides ergonomically sensible furnishing, acoustics and lighting are key factors with regard to the efficiency and wellbeing of the users. Therefore, our Product Focus Acoustics as from page 62 presents a great variety of functional and aesthetic innovations. We also informed ourselves of innovations in the field of workplace lighting at the Light & Building in Frankfurt (see photographs) – we will present them in a comprehensive special section in the AIT 5/16!

Best wishes
Petra Stephan, Dipl.-Ing.
Chief Editor
Architect