As people are returning to their offices, so is the blah-blah-blah about office space optimization. Stripped, rethought, and renewed: the office of the future!
But what can be learned from the office of the past? Stephan Petermann, Ruth Baumeister and Marieke van den Heuvel wondered what endures. They’ve researched landmark office buildings that still function as offices today, studying archival documents, photography past and present, contemporary interviews and criticism, and compiled their findings in their bulky book Back to the office: 50 revolutionary office buildings and how they sustained. They bring us to four of these locations, like the Reliance building in Chicago, below.
« Genocide Studies » is a house with many rooms. It accommodates and even encourages a broadening of its central concept. And like all academic fields, it presumes its object of study will always be there.
From the office of the future to the office of the past. What endures?
On Natalia Ginzburg’s Valentino, newly translated: a Q&A with Alexander Chee.