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The office is always on: DEGW, Lefebvre and the wireless city

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 15; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13602361003791069

1466-4410

Edward Wainwright,

Global Urban Networks and Dynamics

Abstract The office is shifting. Architectural and space planning practices such as DEGW are reformulating work practices and the environments within which they occur. In DEGW's terms, the place of work in the knowledge economy is subject to market pressures demanding change within the surroundings of the contemporary city; office practices are being displaced from traditionally static locations and inhabiting places that were previously associated with the non-work world. Drawing on the work of Henri Lefebvre in The Production of Space Footnote1 and Reinhold Martin's research in The Organizational Complex, Footnote2 as well as Manuel Castells' The Rise of the Network Society, Footnote3 this paper will outline how technology is changing the idea and physicality of the office as discussed in DEGW's publication The Distributed Workplace Footnote4 and how pervasive networks are becoming the norm. Notes Lefebvre, Henri, The Production of Space, trsl., Donald Nicholson-Smith (Oxford, Blackwells, 1991). Martin, Reinhold, The Organizational Complex: Architecture, Media, and Corporate Space (Cambridge, Mass., The MIT Press, 2003). Castells, Manuel, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Volume 1: The Rise of the Network Society (Oxford, Blackwell, 1996). Harrison, A.,Wheeler, P., Whitehead, C., The Distributed Workplace (London, Spon Press, 2004). Barlow, Kate, Islington goes the extra 1.3 miles—Islington's wireless broadband ‘hotzone’ is poised to more than double [online]; London, Islington Council, (accessed 29.11.07). Murakami Wood, David, ed., A Report on the Surveillance Society [online]; London, UK Information Commissioner, (accessed 29.11.07). Ibid., p.27. Yunker, John, WiFi Around the World [online]; USA, Corante, (accessed 29.11.07). Milmo, Dan, Ryanair to let passengers use their mobile phones in flight—at a price [online]; UK, Guardian Unlimited, (accessed 29.11.07). Mobiles sound on the Underground [online]; UK, BBC News, (accessed 29.11.07). See Baudrillard, Jean, The Intelligence of Evil or the Lucidity Pact (Oxford, Berg, 2005). Harrison, A., et al., The Distributed Workplace, op. cit. Ibid. Ibid. Castells, Manuel, The Rise of the Network Society, op. cit., p.6. Ibid. Ibid., p.93. Ibid. Harrison, A., et al., The Distributed Workplace, op. cit., p.7. Ibid., p.47. Ibid., p.46. Second Life [online]; USA, Second Life, (accessed 29.11.07). Verizon Launches Free High-Speed Wi-Fi Internet Access in New York City for Verizon Online Customers [online]; USA, Verizon, (accessed 29.11.07). Lefebvre, Henri, The Production of Space, op. cit., p.38. Ibid. Ibid. Martin, Reinhold, The Organizational Complex, op. cit., p.20. Wiener, Norbert, Cybernetics; or, Control and communication in the animal and the machine (New York, Wiley, 1948). Martin, op.cit., p.7. See Lefebvre, Henri, The Production of Space and Rhythmanalysis: Space, Time and Everyday Life, trsl., Gerald Moore (London, Continuum, 2004). Lefebvre, Henri, The Production of Space, ibid., p.355. Castells, Manuel, The Rise of the Network Society, op. cit., p.93.