Your Sunday read: Just the best time to talk about workspace!

Got this from a friend? Click here and join up . No Images? [Click here]( Milton Waddams, played by Stephen Root, in Office Space, 1999 (Image 20th Century Fox) Dear {NAME}, In 2017, the [HuffPost]( published a survey that stated that the average working human will spend “just over 13 years (4,821 days) of (his/her) life at work with an extra year on top in unpaid overtime”, and 11 years of it will be spent looking at the computer screen. You have completed your entire puberty trying to be an Opus (aka, working in Latin) sapiens. In comparison, you’ll be spending almost three times as much time (33 years), sleeping your life away in bed, a reasonable four-and-a-half years eating, and a meagre one year and four months exercising, which sounds about right considering that, according to an article by [CreditDonkey](, most people forget about their gym’s commitment after only… five months. RIP, your new New Balance sneakers. In today’s newsletter, we investigate the birth of the office space and how, from identical desks crammed into one space to 'cubicle farms', our offices might be affecting our lives. “So, I was sitting in my cubicle today and I realised, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So, that means that every single day that you see me, that’s on the worst day of my life.” Peter Gibbons (aka Ron Livingston) in [Office Space]( Steno pool in office, 1959, Engineering Department Photographic Negatives (Record Series 2613-07); (Image courtesy of Seattle Municipal Archive) When did the first office appear? An article by [The Conversation]( points to a painting from the 16th century – Boticelli’s “St Augustine at Work” – portraying St Augustine sitting at a table, inside an alcove of sorts, closed off by a curtain, that may as well be the ancestor of the today's office (or the phone booth, sans the phone). St Augustine had an office? Well, not really; people were mainly working from home – be they lawyers, architects or civil servants – or from monasteries, churches, temples, chancelleries and palaces. But that changed… Yes, when people started to organise, collaborate and regroup, larger commercial spaces emerged – it is said that the first “purpose-built” office building was the Old Admiralty Building, in London, built in 1726. And then there was the First Industrial Revolution! Indeed, by 1760, factories and offices had popped up like morel mushrooms after the rain, with banks, factories, and retail space changing the face of our cities the world around. How come? Social and industrial changes gave birth to new spaces including the rise of the skyscraper. The world’s [first skyscraper](was a commercial (office) building: the Home Insurance Building in Chicago, completed in 1885. What did old-time offices look like? In the early 20th century, pretty much like today’s open space offices, but dipped into an Orwellian reality. I’ve got the chills. For all the good reasons: identical desks, linear and repetitive work, bosses monitoring closely. And then, neon lights and air conditioning appeared, cheerfully altering our eyes and lungs forever. I also remember cubicles… Ah yes, the panacea to the 1980s cry for higher productivity and cheaper office costs. Ah. Originally designed by Robert Propst, a US designer and director of the research division of furniture company Herman Miller, the cubicle was the first modular office system. It was dubbed “Action Office”. And? Unfortunately, and to Propst's dismay, it soon turned into the “bullpen” or the [“cubicle farm”](. A series of identical and impersonal booths, with zero consideration for human well-being and interactions. Sounds creepy. We’ll leave it to Propst to sum up the whole cubicle farm situation: “Not all organisations are intelligent and progressive. Lots are run by crass people who can take the same kind of equipment and create hellholes. They make little bitty cubicles and stuff people in them. Barren, rat-hole places.” Is it a thing? Agile working space Work in the 21st century is all about agility and teamwork: Propelling an era of “co” – co-working spaces, collaborations, conversations (and con-artists, but that’s for another newsletter), agile working environments replace yesterday’s crowded open spaces and other uniform and impersonal cubicles. Office spaces now let team members work in different settings but within the same space – think modular desk systems on wheels, outdoor spaces to refresh, and options to adapt the office space to your daily needs. As well as “reset time”, with some companies incorporating saunas, karaoke and toboggans in the working areas. “We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” – Winston Churchill Danger zone It’s not you, it’s the chair. Thermal high: Research published in [Building and Environment]( in 2018 noted that the right temperature can be linked to improved performance, and natural light brings better mood and well-being. Open space quandary: “Lack of privacy and noise are some of the problems bugging most people working in open-plan offices,” claims a 2019 survey conducted by Career Junction on workplace etiquette. It also found that more than 70% of the respondents said they’d prefer to be separated from colleagues. (Well, that’s it for co-working then.) Clutter anxiety: Because there’s only one Marie Kondo and it’s not your colleague, you might be walking every morning into a messy space. Studies have shown that a chaotic environment can spark anxiety and lack of focus. Deskbound: [A study]( published in the journal of the Alzheimer’s Association found that sedentary behaviour (like seating at your chair for more than eight hours) can potentially be linked to brain health and dementia. Maybe that gym membership wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Google Zurich (Image courtesy of Google) Everyone wants to work at Google. Or do they really? Dubbed one of the coolest office spaces to work at, Google head office in Zurich is a masterpiece of quirkiness. Run a meeting in a hot air balloon grounded to the floor? Check. Slide in a toboggan to access a boardroom? Check. Make a phone call in a faux-fur wallpapered cocoon? Check. If your thing is to rather dip your toes into an indoor fake ocean complete with an office in an oversized tree house and meetings on a pirate ship, then the Inventionland Design Factory in Pittsburgh, US, is for you. At the Spheres, Amazon’s Seattle headquarters, you can work next to a “[55-foot-tall Port Jackson]( fig from Australia named Rubi, tubs of aquatic plant life and a huge living wall of ferns and other climbers”. That’s if you’re not one of the Amazon's 'fulfillment centers' workers toiling in hellish labour conditions. The office space in [The Apartment](, 1960 (Image The Mirisch Corporation) Lingo Taylorism: Inspired by US engineer Frederick Taylor who had the world-shattering idea to cram humans into one open room, doing linear and repetitive work, while their bosses monitored from closed offices upstairs. Bürolandschaft: German for “office-landscape”, the concept was created in the 1950s by brothers Eberhard and Wolfgang Schnelle, and focused on fluidity of movement but also plants and natural light as an improvement to Taylorism. Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardise and Sustain: The 5S system is a workflow process based on Japanese words that describe the steps to create the ideal non-cluttered, homogeneous workspace. Also on [Maverick Life](! ART: The tricolour bag that came to symbolise migration Cheap, practical and easily accessible, the red, blue white and check bag has become an apt symbol for migration in 21st-century art. [Click here to read Malibongwe Tyilo's story](. BEAUTY: How to get the most out of your makeup Using your makeup products for more than they are expected to do can be surprising and rewarding. [Read Nicole Williamson's tips here.]( RELATIONSHIPS: The meaning of connections Whether we are dating, making friends, meeting someone for business or simply looking for a doctor, we often look for that connection – one that makes us feel safe and on which we hope to build a long-lasting relationship. [Read Stefan Blom's op-ed.]( FASHION: A brief history of the suit and its endless hold on menswear Even as dress codes seem to loosen, the suit keeps a hold on menswear as the ultimate formal attire. [For the full story, click here.]( WELLNESS: The Matcha Movement: Why the green tea powder is more than just a trend Used in lattes, smoothies and, more recently, flapjacks, ice cream and even macaroons, matcha has made its name as a trendy superfood ingredient; but is it just a fad or are the health benefits for real? [Read all about matcha in Nicole Williamson's story.]( OBITUARY: Nobel literature laureate who transformed American literature, dead at 88 One of America’s most influential writers, Toni Morrison, passed away on Monday 5 August. Her literary output illuminated the inner life of African-American women – as well as the circumstances they lived. [Read Brooks Spector's obituary.]( LIFE: Last week in pictures – 04 August 2019 This week, the Two Oceans Aquarium collections team discovered an extremely rare Pink Meanie jellyfish in the waters around Robben Island as well as in the Cape Town Harbour – it has been almost 70 years since the last sighting of this rare jellyfish species and it is currently on display at the Two Oceans Aquarium situated in Cape Town... [Enjoy our gallery of images here.]( OPINIONISTA: The thread of violent light that illuminates crime fiction It’s through these stories that we make sense of ourselves in relation to concepts of good and evil. It’s here that we generate empathy or anger as we understand what makes criminals tick. [Read Amy Heydenrych's column here.]( Advertisement How office spaces are changing for the better Since the Industrial Revolution, offices have shifted from crowded open spaces to monotonous cubicles back to hipper open spaces, in a never-ending quest to foster productivity, boost creativity and spread collaborations between team members. But has it ever worked? And what does the future office space look like? [Read more here.]( Copyright © 2019 Daily Maverick, All rights reserved. You are receiving this mail because you are awesome and on the Maverick Life & Books subscriber list. Getting too many emails from us? Click "Preferences" below to manage your newsletter list. "Unsubscribe" removes from all newsletters. [Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe](