, one can find 

meeting rooms, lounges, and spaces for support activities, such as

photocopying and filing. Some offices also have a kitchen area where workers can
make their lunches. There are many[quantify] different ways of arranging the space in an
office and whilst these vary according to function, managerial fashions and the culture
of specific companies can be even more important. While offices can be built in almost
any location and in almost any building, some modern requirements for offices make
this more difficult, such as requirements for light, networking, and security. The major
purpose of an office building is to provide a workplace and working environment -
primarily for administrative and managerial workers. These workers usually occupy set
areas within the office building, and usually are provided with desks, PCs and other
equipment they may need within these areas. The chief operating officer (COO) is
responsible for handling administration and maintenance of an office building.

Contents

 1History
o 1.1Middle Ages
o 1.2Emergence of the modern office
o 1.320th century
o 1.4Japan 20th century office
 2Office spaces
o 2.1Workspaces
o 2.2Meeting spaces
o 2.3Support spaces
 3Office structure
 4Office buildings
 5Office and retail rental rates
 6Grading
 7See also
 8References
 9Further reading
 10External links

History[edit]
The structure and shape of the office are impacted by both management thought as well
as construction materials and may or may not have walls or barriers. The word stems
from the Latin officium, and its equivalents in various, mainly romance, languages. An
officium was not necessarily a place, but rather an often mobile 'bureau' in the sense of
a human staff or even the abstract notion of a formal position, such as a magistrature.
The relatively elaborate Roman bureaucracy would not be equaled for centuries in the
West after the fall of Rome, even partially reverting to illiteracy, while the East preserved
a more sophisticated administrative culture, both under Byzantium and under Islam.
Offices in classical antiquity were often part of a palace complex or a large temple.
There was usually a room where scrolls were kept and scribes did their work. Ancient
texts mentioning the work of scribes allude to the existence of such "offices". These
rooms are sometimes called "libraries" by some archaeologists and the general press
because one often associates scrolls with literature. In fact, they were true offices since
the scrolls were meant for record-keeping and other management functions such as
treaties and edicts, and not for writing or keeping poetry or other works of fiction.
Middle Ages[edit]
The High Middle Ages (1000–1300) saw the rise of the medieval chancery, which was
usually the place where most government letters were written and where laws were
copied in the administration of a kingdom. The rooms of the chancery often had walls
full of pigeonholes, constructed to hold rolled up pieces of parchment for safekeeping or
ready reference, a precursor to the bookshelf. The introduction of printing during
the Renaissance did not change these early government offices much.

An early European office

Medieval illustrations, such as paintings or tapestries, often show people in their private
offices handling record-keeping books or writing on scrolls of parchment. All kinds of
writings seemed to be mixed in these early forms of offices. Before the invention of
the printing press and its distribution there was often a very thin line between a private
office and a private library since books were read or written in the same space at the
same desk or table, and general accounting and personal or private letters were also
done there.
It was during the 13th century that the English form of the word first appeared when
referring to a position involving duties (ex. the office of the ...). Geoffrey
Chaucer appears to have first used the word in 1395 to mean a place where business is
transacted in The Canterbury Tales.
As mercantilism became the dominant economic theory of the Renaissance, merchants
tended to conduct their business in the same buildings, which might include retail sales,
warehousing and clerical work. During the 15th century, population density in many
cities reached the point where stand-alone buildings were used by merchants to
conduct their business, and there was a developing a distinction between church,
government/military, and commerce uses for buildings. [2]
Emergence of the modern office[edit]
With the growth of large, complex organizations such as the Royal Navy and the East
India Company in the 18th century, the first purpose-built office spaces were
constructed. The Old Admiralty (Ripley Building) was built in 1726 as a three-storey U-
shaped brick building and was the first purpose built office building in Great Britain. As
well as offices, the building housed a board room and apartments for the Lords of the
Admiralty. In the 1770s, many scattered offices for the Royal Navy were gathered
into Somerset House, the first block purpose-built for office work.[4]

The sprawling complex of the extended East India House c.1800. The company employed an army of
bureaucrats to administer its territories in India.

The East India House was built in 1729 on Leadenhall Street as the headquarters from
which the East India Company administered its Indian colonial possessions. The
Company developed a very complex bureaucracy for the task, which required
thousands of office employees to process the necessary paperwork. The Company
recognized the benefits of centralized administration, and required that all workers sign
in and out at the central office, daily. [5]
As the Industrial Revolution intensified in the 18th and 19th centuries, the industries
of banking, rail, insurance, retail, petroleum, and telegraphy dramatically grew in size
and complexity. To transact business, an increasingly large number of clerks were
needed to handle order-processing, accounting, and document filing, with increasingly
specialized office space required to house these activities. Most of the desks of the era
were top-heavy with paper storage bins extending above the desk-work area, giving the
appearance of a cubicle and offering the workers some degree of privacy.
The relatively high price of land in the central core of cities lead to the first multi-story
buildings, which were limited to about 10 stories until the use of iron and steel allowed
for higher structures. The first purpose-built office block was the Brunswick Building,
built in Liverpool in 1841.[6] The invention of the safety elevator in 1852 by Elisha
Otis saw the rapid escalation upward of buildings. [2] By the end of the 19th century,
larger office buildings frequently contained large glass atriums to allow light into the
complex and improve air circulation.
20th century[edit]
An office in 1903, equipped with speaking tubes

By 1906, Sears, Roebuck and Co had opened their mail order and headquarters
operation in a 3,000,000-square-foot (280,000 m2) building in Chicago, at the time the
largest building in the world. The time and motion study, pioneered in manufacturing
by F. W. Taylor and later applied to the office environment by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth,
led to the idea that managers needed to play an active role in directing the work of
subordinates in order to increase the efficiency of the workplace. F.W. Taylor advocated
the use of large, open floor plans, and desks that faced supervisors. [7] As a result, in
1915, the Equitable Life Insurance Company in New York City introduced the “Modern
Efficiency Desk” with a flat top and drawers below, designed to allow managers an easy
view of the workers. This led to a demand for a large square footages per floor in
buildings, and a return to the open spaces that were seen in pre–industrial revolution
buildings.[2]

1937 image of the Division of Classification and Cataloging, National Archives, United States

However, by the midpoint of the 20th century, it became apparent that an efficient office
required discretion in the control of privacy, which is needed to combat tedium linked to
poor productivity, and to encourage creativity. In 1964, the Herman Miller (office
equipment) company engaged Robert Propst, a prolific industrial designer, who came
up with the concept of the Action Office which later evolved into the cubicle office
furniture system.[2]
Japan 20th century office[edit]
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Japanese businesses have set themselves apart from their American counterparts by
implementing different techniques in the way they handle business. The Japanese office
layout improves work productivity, harmony in the office, and holds every employee
accountable for the work they produce. The type of office layout used in Japan is called
an open plan, and relies on ergonomics to help make employees as productive as
possible. The Japanese open office layout allows them to use an organizational
structure known as the horizontal structure. In the typical Japanese office there are no
walls dividing desks, no cubicles, and no individual offices. Also they are able to
implement policies using the ringi-sho consensus.
In order to get group members to work effectively in the open office floor plan the use of
island-style desks are used. The most dominant feature of the Japanese island-style
office layout is that each group forms an island. Kageyu Noro, Goroh Fujimaki &
Shinsuke Kishi, researchers of ergonomics in the workplace, stated,” Japanese offices
have traditionally adhered to island layouts because these reflect the Japanese style of
teamwork and top-down style of management.” [8] The group leader will then sit at the
prominent position and ensure productivity.

Island style seating

The group leader will assign a task to the group, and each member of the group then
receives their individual task to complete. Island-style seating also gives the group the
benefit of being able to speak to one another at any time, and ask for help if needed.
Being in such close proximity to one another in the office gives another advantage to
the supervisor in that he can call an uchi-awase. Uchi-awase is an informal meeting in
order to get an important message across, and also allows all members of the team to
be creative in the office. “The open office layout allows for this because there are hardly
any independent rooms or enclosures. If the supervisor stands at his desk he can
glance at his associates and easily call them over.”, according to Durlabhji, Subhash,
Norton E. Marks, and Scott Roach, authors of Japanese Business: Cultural Perspective.
[9]
 Once all individual tasks are complete the group then combines each person's work
and the project is the put together as a whole and returned to the supervisor. The work
is viewed as a team effort and that each member of the group receives equal credit for
being part of a team completing the goal assigned. The group itself holds each member
accountable for ensuring that the work is getting done, and that no one individual is
doing more work than another. Another motivating factor is that the group's boss is also
seated at the same desk, and the effect that this has on the individuals is that they must
work hard just like the boss. The role of having an open layout with island-type seating
allows the office to be structured so the employees are put together as teams.
The type of organizational structure found within the Japanese office is known as a
horizontal structure. According to Andrew, Ghillyer, author of Management Now,”
Horizontal structure is an organization structure consisting of two groups: the first
composed of senior management responsible for strategic decisions and policies and
the second composed of empowered employees working together in different process
teams; also known as a team structure.”[10] The benefit of using this type of structure is
that hierarchy is flattened to reduce supervision, teams are able to self-manage, team
performance, not just the individual is rewarded, and training is highly emphasized
amongst all employees. With the heightened sense of empowerment and responsibility
workers are motivated to complete objectives in a timely manner. Having the office
structured horizontally allows for easy communication of introducing new policies and
ideas amongst the groups.
“Ringisho” is the concept of submitting proposals and making decisions off those ideas.
By unifying everyone together in the Japanese office it helps to make better-informed
decisions on policies of the company that all managers and employees have input on.
The idea behind this is to get a hold of various thinking individuals to see if there is a
good way in writing their policies that come to benefit the company better. Richard
Lewis, author of When Cultures Collide, states “Suggestions, ideas and inventions
make their way up the company hierarchy by a process of collecting signatures among
workers and middle managers. Many people are involved. Top executives take the final
step in ratifying items that have won sufficient approval.” [11] With this system in place
changes to policies are only passed if there is an overall consensus to pass it. Allowing
each group to have a say on which policies should be implemented improves overall job
satisfaction and harmony throughout the office.
The way Japanese offices are structured allow them to be more efficient when
conducting business. The efficiency at which they operate has been noticed by such
companies as General Motors, Ford, Motorola, and Chrysler Company. They continue
to look for other ways to be more efficient and productive with the office layout and
employee productivity.

Office spaces[edit]
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The main purpose of an office environment is to support its occupants in performing

their job—preferably at minimum cost and to maximum satisfaction. With different
people performing different tasks and activities, however, it is not always easy to select
the right office spaces. To aid decision-making in workplace and office design, one can
distinguish three different types of office spaces: workspaces, meeting spaces and
support spaces. For new, or developing businesses, remote satellite offices and project
rooms, serviced offices can provide a simple solution and provide all of the former types
of space.
Workspaces[edit]
Workspaces in an office are typically used for conventional office activities such as
reading, writing and computer work. There are nine generic types of workspace, each
supporting different activities.

open office
 

team space
 

cubicle
Open office: An open workspace for more than ten people, suitable for activities which
demand frequent communication or routine activities which need relatively little
concentration
Team space: A semi-enclosed workspace for two to eight people; suitable for teamwork
which demands frequent internal communication and a medium level of concentration
Cubicle: A semi-enclosed workspace for one person, suitable for activities which
demand medium concentration and medium interaction


 private office
 

shared office
 

team room
Private office: An enclosed workspace for one person, suitable for activities which are
confidential, demand a lot of concentration or include many small meetings
Shared office: An enclosed workspace for two or three people, suitable for semi-
concentrated work and collaborative work in small groups
Team room: An enclosed workspace for four to ten people; suitable for teamwork which
may be confidential and demands frequent internal communication

study booth
 

work lounge
  

touch down
Study booth: An enclosed workspace for one person; suitable for short-term activities
which demand concentration or confidentiality
Work lounge: A lounge-like workspace for two to six people; suitable for short-term
activities which demand collaboration and/or allow impromptu interaction
Touch down: An open workspace for one person; suitable for short-term activities
which require little concentration and low interaction
Meeting spaces[edit]
Meeting spaces in an office typically use interactive processes, be it quick
conversations or intensive brainstorms. There are six generic types of meeting space,
each supporting different activities.

small meeting room

 

large meeting room

 
 

Small meeting space

Small meeting room: An enclosed meeting space for two to four persons, suitable for
both formal and informal interaction
Large meeting room: An enclosed meeting space for five to twelve people, suitable for
formal interaction
Small meeting space: An open or semi-open meeting space for two to four persons;
suitable for short, informal interaction

large meeting space

 

brainstorm room
 

meeting point
Large meeting space: An open or semi-open meeting space for five to twelve people;
suitable for short, informal interaction
Brainstorm room: An enclosed meeting space for five to twelve people; suitable for
brainstorming sessions and workshops
Meeting point: An open meeting point for two to four persons; suitable for ad hoc,
informal meetings
Support spaces[edit]
Support spaces in an office are typically used for secondary activities such as filing
documents or taking a break. There are twelve generic types of support space, each
supporting different activities.

filing space
 

storage space
 

print and copy area

Filing space: An open or enclosed support space for the storage of frequently used
files and documents
Storage space: An open or enclosed support space for the storage of commonly used
office supplies
Print and copy area: An open or enclosed support space with facilities for printing,
scanning and copying
 

mail area
 

pantry area
 

break area
Mail area: An open or semi-open support space where employees can pick up or
deliver their mail
Pantry area: An open or enclosed support space where employees can get
refreshments and supplies for visitor hospitality are kept.
Break area: A semi-open or enclosed support space where employees can take a
break from their work

locker area
 
 

smoking room
 

library
Locker area: An open or semi-open support space where employees can store their
personal belongings
Smoking room: An enclosed support space where employees can smoke a cigarette
Library: A semi-open or enclosed support space for reading of books, journals and
magazines

games room
 

waiting area
 
 

circulation space
Games room: An enclosed support space where employees can play games (e.g.
computer games, pool, darts)
Lactation room: as of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a
requirement for companies in the United States.
Waiting area: An open or semi-open support space where visitors can be received and
can wait for their appointment
Circulation space: Support space which is required for circulation on office floors,
linking all major functions

Office structure[edit]

Open plan TradeMe offices, above NZX, Wellington, New Zealand

There are many different ways of arranging the space in an office and whilst these vary
according to function, managerial fashions, and the culture of specific companies can
be even more important. Choices include, how many people will work within the same
room. At one extreme, each individual worker will have their own room; at the other
extreme a large open plan office can be made up of one main room with tens or
hundreds of people working in the same space. Open-plan offices put multiple workers
together in the same space, and some studies have shown that they can improve short-
term productivity, i.e. within a single software project. At the same time, the loss of
privacy and security can increase the incidence of theft and loss of company secrets. A
type of compromise between open plan and individual rooms is provided by
the cubicle desk, possibly made most famous by the Dilbert cartoon series, which
solves visual privacy to some extent, but often fails on acoustic separation and security.
Most cubicles also require the occupant to sit with their back towards anyone who might
be approaching; workers in walled offices almost always try to position their normal
work seats and desks so that they can see someone entering, and in some instances,
install tiny mirrors on things such as computer monitors.
Office buildings[edit]

A small office building in Salinas, California, United States

Alandia Trade Center, a real estate office building in Mariehamn, Åland

Apple Inc. headquarters of neo-futuristic architecture at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, United States.

The One World Trade Center in Manhattan is a high-rise office building, the tallest of its kind in the U.S.

While offices can be built in almost any location and in almost any building, some
modern requirements for offices make this more difficult. These requirements can be
both legal (e.g. light levels must be sufficient) or technical (e.g. requirements for
computer networking). Alongside, other requirements such as security and flexibility of
layout, has led to the creation of special buildings which are dedicated only or primarily
for use as offices. An office building, also known as an office block or business
center is a form of commercial building which contains spaces mainly designed to be
used for offices.
The primary purpose of an office building is to provide a workplace and working
environment primarily for administrative and managerial workers. These workers usually
occupy set areas within the office building, and usually are provided with desks, PCs
and other equipment they may need within these areas.
An office building will be divided into sections for different companies or may be
dedicated to one company. In either case, each company will typically have a reception
area, one or several meeting rooms, singular or open-plan offices, as well as toilets.
Many office buildings also have kitchen facilities and a staff room, where workers can
have lunch or take a short break. Many office spaces are now also serviced
office spaces, which means that those occupying a space or building can share
facilities.

Office and retail rental rates[edit]

Rental rates for office and retail space are typically quoted in terms of money per floor-
area–time, usually money per floor-area per year or month. For example, the rate for a
particular property may be $29 per square-foot per year ($29/s.f/yr) - $290 per square-
meter–year ($290/m2/a), and rates in the area could range $20–$50/s.f./yr ($200–
$500/m2·a).
In many countries, rent is typically paid monthly even if usually discussed in terms of
years.
Examples:

 A particular 2,000 s.f. space is priced at $15/s.f./yr =

(2,000 s.f.) × ($15/s.f./a) / (12 mo/yr) = $2500/month
 A 200 m2 space priced at $150/m2·a = (200 m2) ×
($150/m2·a) / (12 mo/a) = $2500/month
In a gross lease, the rate quoted is an all-inclusive rate. One pays a set amount of rent
per time and the landlord is responsible for all other expenses such as costs of utilities,
taxes, insurance, maintenance, and repairs.
The triple net lease is one in which the tenant is liable for a share of various expenses
such as property taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities, climate control, repairs,
janitorial services and landscaping.
Office rents in the United States are still recovering from the high vacancy rates that
occurred in the wake of the 2008 depression.[12]

Grading[edit]
The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) classifies office space into
three categories: Class A, Class B, and Class C.[13] According to BOMA, Class A office
buildings have the "most prestigious buildings competing for premier office users with
rents above average for the area". BOMA states that Class A facilities have "high-
quality standard finishes, state of the art systems, exceptional accessibility and a
definite market presence". BOMA describes Class B office buildings as those that
compete "for a wide range of users with rents in the average range for the area". BOMA
states that Class B buildings have "adequate systems" and finishes that "are fair to
good for the area", but that the buildings do not compete with Class A buildings for the
same prices. According to BOMA Class C buildings are aimed towards "tenants
requiring functional space at rents below the average for the area". [14] The lack of
specifics allows considerable room for "fudging" the boundaries of the categories.
Oftentimes, the above categories are further modified by adding the plus or minus sign
to create subclasses, such as Class A+ or Class B-. [15]

See also[edit]
Physical
 Business portal
 Business park
 Architecture portal
 Corner office
 Executive suite Soft issues
 Factory
 Office space planning  Business attire
 Office supplies  Office management
 Over-illumination  Office politics
 Steel buildings  Sick building syndrome
 Warehouse

References[edit]
1. ^ Moran, Joe (2007).  "3: A lifetime behind a desk".  Queuing
for Beginners: The Story of Daily Life From Breakfast to
Bedtime. London: Profile Books (published 2010).
p. 36.  ISBN  9781847650658. Retrieved  2018-09-08.  [...] the
Modern Efficiency Desk, first made in 1915 by Steelcase Inc.
for the New York offices of Equitable Assurance. This desk,
which was a simple, rectangular table with small drawers,
replaced the cabinet-like desks, with their high backs made
up of little drawers and cubby holes, which dominated office
life before the First World War. At their new efficiency desks,
office workers could be watched, monitored and subjected to
time-and-motion studies.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Long, Kim (2004). User Effective Buildings.
Denver: Aardex Corporation. pp.  14–16.  ISBN  978-
0975552407.
3. ^ OfficingNow (2017-03-08). "9 Office Types You Probably
Don't Know About".  Medium. Retrieved  2020-10-22.
 4. ^ Hamilton, C.I (2011). The Making of the Modern
Admiralty:British Naval Policy-Making, 1805-1927. Cambridge
University Press.
p. 15.  ISBN  9781139496544.  Archived  from the original on
2016-06-17.
5. ^ "How the office was invented". BBC.  Archived  from the
original on 2013-07-22. Retrieved  2012-12-17.
6. ^ "Liverpool Firsts". Archived from the original  on 2013-12-
20. Retrieved  2012-12-17.
7. ^ "Psychology of the Office Space". University of Southern
California Master of Science in Applied
Psychology.  Archived  from the original on 27 January 2015.
Retrieved 28 January  2015.
8. ^ Noro, Kageyu; Fujimaki, Goroh; Kishi, Shinsuke (2003).
"Evidence-based ergonomics: a comparison of Japanese and
American office layouts". International Journal of
Occupational Safety and Ergonomics. 9  (4): 527–
538.  doi:10.1080/10803548.2003.11076588.  PMID  1467552
4. S2CID  32155122.
9. ^ Durlabhji, Subhash; Marks, Norton E.; Roach, Scott
(1993).  Japanese business: cultural perspectives. Albany:
State University of New York Press. pp. 237–
238.  ISBN  9780791412527.
10. ^ Ghillyer, Andrew (2012). Management Now: Skills for 21st
Century Management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
p. 154.  ISBN  9780071315265.
11. ^ Lewis, Richard D. (2015).  When cultures collide: leading
across cultures(3rd  ed.). Bostion: Nicholas Brealey.
p. 511.  ISBN  9781904838029.
12. ^ "This Recovery Explained"  (PDF). The Steven L. Newman
Real Estate Institute. Spring 2011.  Archived  (PDF) from the
original on 2013-05-17.
13. ^ Kennedy Smith (30 June 2006). "Categorization of office
space is flexible".  St. Louis Daily Record & St. Louis
Countian. Retrieved 9 September  2010.
14. ^ "Building Class Definitions".  Archived  from the original on
27 August 2013. Retrieved  18 July 2013.
15. ^ "CLASS A+ OFFICE
SPACE"  (PDF). cbre.us.  Archived  (PDF) from the original on
9 October 2016. Retrieved 21 September  2016.

Further reading[edit]
 Adams, Scott (2002). What do you call a sociopath
in a cubicle? (answer, a coworker). Kansas City,
Missouri: Andrews McMeel Pub.
 Duffy, Francis; Cave, Colin; Worthington, John, eds.
(1976). Planning Office Space. London: The
Architectural Press Ltd.
 Klein, Judy Graf (1982). The Office Book. New York:
Facts on File Inc.
  van Meel, Juriaan; Martens, Yuri; van Ree, Hermen
Jan (2010). Planning Office Spaces: a practical
guide for manager and designers. London: Laurence
King Publishing.
 Saval, Nikil (2014). Cubed: A Secret History of the
Workplace. Doubleday.
 Roderick, Ian (2016). "Representing affective labour
and gender performativity in knowledge work: a
multimodal critical discourse analysis". Gender and
Language. 10 (3): 340–
363. doi:10.1558/genl.v10i3.32040.

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