ABSTRACT
Beginning in the late nineteenth century, modern office design permanently moved to brick and mortar and concrete construction early in the twentieth century (Hysom and Crawford 1997). Fueled by inventions such as the elevator, steel constructions, and a general optimism and enthusiasm for progress, the concept of office design as part of an overall business strategy became familiar to practitioners outside its specialty areas (e.g., architecture) with the Quickborner Team’s development of the Bürolandschaft, or the landscaped office, in the 1950s (Hookway 2009). This relatively early framework actually included many of today’s trends in the office workplace design, although their labels did not yet exist (e.g., occupant-centered design, personal control over the environment, the biophilia, the organic work spaces, the sustainable design, the activity-based planning, the biomimicry, the off-grid space planning, the flexible furniture and work spaces). Perhaps due partly to this groundbreaking concept (no pun intended), as of this writing, the Quickborner Team remains in practice outside of Hamburg, Darmstadt (Germany; https://www.quickborner-team.com).
