Typical Plan

Kashish Rajesh Bhardwaj

3- A
A/3497/2020

In this reading about the repetitive resemblance of the Manhattan’s office layouts, the
author defined the term Typical Plan as one of the truest American architectural forms, a
part of zero-degree architecture. A plan stripped of all its qualities and reduced to an empty
surface on which life could be simply performed but not truly experienced. For him, the
typical plan was a design strategy in which the architectural floor plan organizes a core, a set
of columns and an enclosing envelope. With technological advancements, we’ve began
thinking of buildings as mere objects than of space, their appearance is what concerns us
the most rather than the atmosphere that is created. But we need to understand that their
true forms are often not seen from the exterior facades but rather from sectional
views.
Typical plan, driven by the concept of efficiency, is a result of repetition, independent from
the number of times repeated. This basically tells us how the typical plan is self- centered
and does not create a confined environment for it’s users. The character of a typical plan is
similar to that of a man without qualities. Offices today are like hollow pieces of space,
without any life in them, designed to just hold certain number of people. One cannot
disagree to the fact that in some cases, having followed the typical plan layout has helped
businesses to flourish by increasing the efficiency of their employees, but in my opinion an
open floor layout will always be superior to the former. A typical plan layout, according to
me, gets too boring and monotonous for the workers after some time and they’d end up in
a very claustrophobic environment. This is also proven by the author when he mentions that
the “occupants of typical plans are in fact slaves, with a faceless environment and ugly
accumulations’’. While on one hand an open plan layout increases collaboration and
creativity, brings flexibility and agility, opportunities to move around a space based on the
activity that is to be performed, but on the other hand, it gets easier to get distracted by
colleagues asking questions, another one talking on the phone, or a few more chatting in the
corner.

With team members working side-by-side all day, there is almost no privacy in open-plan
offices. While that might motivate employees and push them to be focused on work, there
are quite a few downsides to the lack of privacy too. Open offices can be intimidating for the
introverts, but honestly speaking, extroverted people don’t like being watched all the time
either. They also happen to promote excessive use of artificial elements like air conditioning
units because of the inefficient planning. Research has proven that prolonged use of
artificial air conditioning leads to lethargy among the occupants of the space which brings
down their productivity rate and might cause harm to the business’ growth. During the 3rd
semester, while working on our design project dealing with vernacular architecture, I
realized the importance of local variations based on the requirements of people that will be
using the building, a concept quite different from that of a typical plan where everything is
the same. But this has definitely enhanced the experience of the users. Space planning
based on local variations helps ensure efficient use of space without wasting it. Without it,
buildings lack a cohesive sense of form and function that makes them usable. It encourages
a sense of balance and harmony to the space and makes the most use of both natural and
artificial lighting. In offices, it also facilitates people in better workflow and stimulates
productivity.

Plans don’t really help one in truly understanding the spatial quality that is to be
achieved in a space which is an extremely important factor while designing more
interesting and comfortable spaces for the users. It is through a section that a
conceptual idea begins to become real and is also a tool that places the building with
the context and the topography around. Sections explains how an architectural space can
be perceived and experienced even if the person is not physically in its vicinity. This means
that spaces can be perceived based on the observation of drawings or sketches because
they have the ability to stimulate the observer to experience new spatial realities. All of this
is lost while using a typical plan layout.