An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific duties attached to it (see officer or official ); the latter is an earlier usage, as "office" originally referred to the location of one's duty. In its adjective form, the term "office" may refer to business -related tasks. In law , a company or organization has offices in any place where it has an official presence, even if that presence consists of a storage silo , for example, instead of a more traditional establishment with a desk and chair . An office is also an architectural and design phenomenon, including small offices, such as a bench in the corner of a small business or a room in someone's home (see small office/home office ), entire floors of buildings, and massive buildings dedicated entirely to one company. In modern terms, an office is usually the location where white-collar workers carry out their functions.
49-540: Edmonton Tower is a 29-storey 129.84-metre (426.0 ft) tall, office building in the Ice District area of Edmonton , Alberta, Canada. It opened in mid-December 2016. In total, it has 3,700 square metres (40,000 sq ft) of retail space, and over 48,000 square metres (520,000 sq ft) of office lease-able area. It is Edmonton's eighth tallest building. The main tenants have been: A large video display, using light-emitting diodes , shows images on
98-413: A computer . Desks often have one or more drawers , compartments, or pigeonholes to store items such as office supplies and papers. Desks are usually made of wood or metal, although materials such as glass are sometimes seen. Some desks have the form of a table , although usually only one side of a desk is suitable to sit at (there are some exceptions, such as a partners desk ) Some desks do not have
147-483: A 3,000,000-square-foot (280,000 m ) building in Chicago, at the time the largest building in the world. The time and motion study , pioneered in manufacturing by F. W. Taylor and later applied to the office environment by Frank and Lillian Gilbreth , led to the idea that managers needed to play an active role in directing the work of subordinates to increase the efficiency of the workplace. F.W. Taylor advocated
196-553: A bridge worksurface between the back credenza and front desk. During the North American recession of the early 1990s, many managers and executive workers were required to do word processing and other functions previously completed by typing pools and secretaries. This necessitated a more central placement of the computer on these "U-shape" suite desk systems. With computers more prevalent, "computer paper" became an office supply. The beginning of this paper boom gave birth to
245-449: A child's room. One of the most common is the bunk-bed desk, also called the " loft bed ". Until the late 1980s, desks remained a place for paperwork and "business machines", but the personal computer was taking hold in large and medium-sized businesses. New office suites included a "knee hole" credenza which was a place for a terminal or personal computer and keyboard tray. Soon, new office designs also included "U-shape" suites which added
294-466: A computer screen to guests or co-workers. Manufacturers have responded to this issue by creating "forward facing" desks where computer monitors are placed on the front of the "U-shape" workstation. This forward computer monitor placement promotes a clearer sight-line to greet colleagues and allows for common viewing of information displayed on a screen. Replacement of bulky CRT monitors with flat panel LCDs freed up significant room on desktops. However,
343-515: A lot of concentration, or include many small meetings. Shared office : a compact, semi-private workspace designed for two or three individuals, facilitating both focused work and small group collaboration. Team room : an enclosed workspace for four to ten people; suitable for teamwork that may be confidential and demands frequent internal communication. Study booth : an enclosed workspace for one person; suitable for short-term activities that demand concentration or confidentiality. Work lounge :
392-1734: A lounge-like workspace for two to six people; suitable for short-term activities that demand collaboration and/or allow impromptu interaction. Touch down : an open workspace for one person; suitable for short-term activities that require little concentration and low interaction. Meeting spaces in an office typically use interactive processes, be they quick conversations or intensive brainstorming. There are six generic types of meeting spaces, each supporting different activities. Small meeting room : an enclosed meeting space for two to four people; suitable for both formal and informal interaction. Medium meeting room : an enclosed meeting space for four to ten people; suitable for both formal and informal interaction. Large meeting room : an enclosed meeting space for ten or more people; suitable for formal interaction. Small meeting space : an open or semi-open meeting space for two to four persons; suitable for short, informal interaction. Medium meeting space : an open or semi-open meeting space for four to ten persons; suitable for short, informal interaction. Large meeting space : an open or semi-open meeting space for ten or more people people; suitable for short, informal interaction. Brainstorm room : an enclosed meeting space for five to twelve people; suitable for brainstorming sessions and workshops. Meeting point : an open meeting point for two to four people; suitable for ad hoc, informal meetings. Support spaces in an office are typically used for secondary activities such as filing documents or taking breaks. There are twelve generic types of support spaces, each supporting different activities. Filing space : an open or enclosed support space for
441-476: A one-piece school desk in the late 1880s that was built with a table section attached in front of a wooden seat and back rest. Before this, most students in America sat either on chairs or long benches at long tables. In homes, the term "student desk" designates a small pedestal desk , or writing table constructed for use by a teenager or a pre-teen in their room. It often is a pedestal desk, with only one of
490-400: A result of the country's unique business culture. Japanese offices tend to follow open plan layouts in an 'island-style' arrangement, which promotes teamwork and top-down management. They also use uchi-awase (informal meetings) and ringi-sho (consensus systems) to encourage input on policies from as many groups throughout the office as possible. The main purpose of an office environment
539-433: A result, more office space was assigned to house their activities. The time-and-motion study , pioneered in manufacturing by F. W. Taylor (1856–1915), led to the "Modern Efficiency Desk" of 1915. Its flat top, with drawers below, was designed to allow managers an easy view of their workers. By the middle of the 20th century, it became apparent that an efficient office required additional control over privacy , and gradually
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#1732783763432588-618: A semi-enclosed workspace for two to eight people; suitable for teamwork which demands frequent internal communication and a medium level of concentration. Cubicle : a semi-enclosed workspace for one person; suitable for activities that demand medium concentration and medium interaction. Office Pod : ideal for fostering privacy in today's bustling open-plan offices. It provides a cost-effective and efficient way to ensure privacy and continuity during conversations, calls, and video conferences. Private office : an enclosed workspace for one person; suitable for activities that are confidential, demand
637-625: A semi-open or enclosed support space where employees can take a break from their work. Locker area : an open or semi-open support space where employees can store their personal belongings. Smoking room : an enclosed support space where employees can smoke a cigarette. Library : a semi-open or enclosed support space for reading books, journals and magazines. Games room : an enclosed support space where employees can play games, such as pool or darts. Waiting area : an open or semi-open support space where visitors can be received and wait for their appointment. Circulation space : support space which
686-474: A simple solution and provide all of the former types of space. Workspaces in an office are typically used for conventional office activities such as reading, writing, and computer work. There are nine generic types of workspaces, each supporting different activities. Open office : an open workspace for more than ten people; suitable for activities that demand frequent communication or routine activities that need relatively little concentration. Team space :
735-413: A small compartment over or under the work surface of the desk. The famous Wooton desk and others were the last manifestations of the "pigeonhole" style. The surfaces of some newer desks could be transformed into many different shapes and angles, and were ideal for artists, draftsmen, and engineers. A small boom in office work and desk production occurred at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of
784-400: Is a wide variety of plans available for woodworking enthusiasts to build their own versions. Modern mass-produced student desks are often made with laminate table tops and molded plastic seats in a combined single unit, with storage found under the desktop or on a wire shelf beneath the seat. There are many novel forms of student desks made to maximize the relatively restricted area available in
833-563: Is required for circulation on office floors, linking all major functions. Lactation rooms are also support spaces that are legally mandatory for companies in the United States, as of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Desk A desk or bureau is a piece of furniture with a flat table -style work surface used in a school, office , home or the like for academic, professional or domestic activities such as reading , writing , or using equipment such as
882-513: Is to support its occupants in performing their jobs—preferably at minimum cost and with maximum satisfaction. Different people performing different tasks will require different office spaces, or spaces that can handle a variety of uses. To aid decision-making in workplace and office design, one can distinguish three different types of office spaces: workspaces, meeting spaces, and support spaces. For new or developing businesses, remote satellite offices and project rooms, or serviced offices , can provide
931-612: The Middle East or Far East , but there is no specific proof. Medieval illustrations show the first pieces of furniture which seem to have been designed and constructed for reading and writing. Before the invention of the movable type printing press in the 15th century, any reader was potentially a writer or publisher or both, since any book or other document had to be copied by hand. The desks were designed with slots and hooks for bookmarks and for writing implements. Since manuscript volumes were sometimes large and heavy, desks of
980-502: The cubicle system evolved. The word "office" stems from the Latin " officium " and its equivalents in various Romance languages . An officium was not necessarily a place, but often referred instead to human staff members of an organization, or even the abstract notion of a formal position like a magistrate. The elaborate Roman bureaucracy would not be equaled for centuries in the West after
1029-486: The modesty panel at the back of the desk, such as outlet strips and cable management , in an attempt to clear the desktop of electrical clutter. Through the "tech boom" of the 1990s, office worker numbers increased along with the cost of office space rent. The cubicle desk became widely accepted in North America as an economical way of squeezing more desk workers into the same space, without further shrinking
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#17327837634321078-504: The rolltop desk which was a mass-produced, slatted variant of the classical cylinder desk . It provided a relatively fast and cheap way to lock up the ever increasing flow of paperwork without having to file everything by the end of the day. Paper documents became voluminous enough to be stored separately in filing cabinets . Correspondence and other documents were now too numerous to get enough attention to be rolled up or folded again, then summarized and tagged before being pigeonholed in
1127-741: The 18th century to suit the needs of large and growing organizations such as the Royal Navy and the East India Company . The Old Admiralty ( Ripley Building ) was built in 1726 and was the first purpose-built office building in Great Britain. As well as offices, the building housed a board room and apartments for the Lords of the Admiralty. In the 1770s, many scattered offices for the Royal Navy were gathered into Somerset House ,
1176-406: The 20th with the introduction of smaller and less expensive electrical presses and efficient carbon paper coupled with the general acceptance of the typewriter . Steel desks were introduced to take heavier loads of paper and withstand the pounding meted out on the typewriters. This also gave rise to the " typewriter desk ", a platform, sometimes on wheels and with expandable surface via flaps, that
1225-643: The Modern Latin word desca "table to write on", from the mid 14th century. It is a modification of the Old Italian desco "table", from Latin discus "dish" or "disc". The word desk has been used figuratively since 1797. A desk may also be known as a bureau, counter, davenport , escritoire , lectern , reading stand, rolltop desk , school desk, workspace, or writing desk . Desk-style furniture appears not to have been used in classical antiquity or in other ancient centers of literate civilization in
1274-500: The central office each day. As the Industrial Revolution intensified in the 18th and 19th centuries, the industries of banking , rail , insurance , retail , petroleum , and telegraphy dramatically grew in size and complexity. Increasingly large number of clerks were needed to handle order processing, accounting, and document filing, and these clerks needed to be housed in increasingly specialized spaces. Most of
1323-418: The desks of the era were top-heavy and had a cubicle-like appearance, with paper storage bins extending above the desk-work area, offering workers some degree of privacy. The relatively high price of land in the central core of cities led to the first multi-story buildings, which were limited to about 10 stories until the use of iron and steel allowed for higher structures. The first purpose-built office block
1372-491: The dream of the " paperless office ", in which all information would only appear on computer monitors . However, the ease of printing personal documents and the lack of comfort with reading text on computer monitors led to a great deal of document printing. The need for paperwork space vied with the increased desk space taken up by computer monitors, computers, printers, scanners, and other peripherals. The need for more space led some desk companies to attach some accessory items to
1421-454: The end of the first phase of the Industrial Revolution . This allowed an increase in the number of the white-collar workers . As these office workers grew in number, desks were mass-produced for them in large quantities, using newer, steam-driven woodworking machinery. This was the first sharp division in desk manufacturing. From then on, limited quantities of finely crafted desks have been continued to be constructed by master cabinetmakers for
1470-401: The existence of such "offices". These rooms are sometimes called "libraries" by some archaeologists because of scrolls' association with literature. They were, however, closer to modern offices because the scrolls were meant for record-keeping and other management functions, not for poetry or works of fiction. The High Middle Ages (1000–1300) saw the rise of the medieval chancery , which was
1519-608: The exterior glass of the top four storeys of the tower. The display was installed during construction and first used in January 2017. The building's developer, One Properties, stated that the Oilers Entertainment Group was involved with the project. Office building In classical antiquity , offices were often part of a palace complex or a large temple. In the High Middle Ages (1000–1300),
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1568-479: The fall of Rome , with areas partially reverting to illiteracy. Further east, the Byzantine Empire and varying Islamic caliphates preserved a more sophisticated administrative culture. Offices in classical antiquity were often part of a palace complex or a large temple. There was often a room where scrolls were kept and scribes did their work. Ancient texts mentioning the work of scribes allude to
1617-542: The first block purpose-built for office work. The East India House was built in 1729 on Leadenhall Street as the headquarters from which the East India Company administered its Indian colonial possessions . The Company developed a very complex bureaucracy for the task, necessitating thousands of office employees to process the required paperwork. The Company recognized the benefits of centralized administration and required that all workers sign in and out at
1666-473: The form of a table, for instance, an armoire desk is a desk built within a large wardrobe-like cabinet , and a portable desk is light enough to be placed on a person's lap. Since many people lean on a desk while using it, a desk must be sturdy. In most cases, people sit at a desk, either on a separate chair or a built-in chair (e.g., in some school desks). Some people use standing desks to be able to stand while using them. The word "desk" originated from
1715-417: The homes and offices of the rich, while the vast majority of desks were assembled rapidly by unskilled labor from components turned out in batches by machine tools . Thus, age alone does not guarantee that an antique desk is a masterpiece, since this split in quality took place more than a hundred years ago. More paper and correspondence drove the need for more complex desks and more specialized desks, such as
1764-445: The ink pot, the blotter and the powder tray) and storage for pens . The basic desk forms were developed mostly in the 17th and 18th centuries. The modern ergonomic desk is a refinement of the mechanically complex drawing table or drafting table from the end of the 18th century. Refinements to the first desk forms were considerable through the 19th century, as steam-driven machinery made cheap wood-pulp paper possible towards
1813-564: The invention of the printing press and its wider distribution, there was often no clear cultural distinction between a private office and a private library ; books were both read and written at the same desk or table , as were personal and professional accounts and letters. During the 13th century, the English word "office" first began to appear when referring to a position involving specific professional duties (for example, "the office of the....") Geoffrey Chaucer appears to have first used
1862-453: The medieval chancery acted as a sort of office, serving as the space where records and laws were stored and copied. With the growth of large, complex organizations in the 18th century, the first purpose-built office spaces were constructed. As the Industrial Revolution intensified in the 18th and 19th centuries, the industries of banking , rail , insurance , retail , petroleum , and telegraphy grew dramatically, requiring many clerks. As
1911-655: The midpoint of the 20th century, it became apparent that an efficient office required more privacy in order to combat tedium, increase productivity, and encourage creativity. In 1964, the Herman Miller (office equipment) company contracted Robert Propst , a prolific industrial designer. Propst came up with the concept of the Action Office , which later evolved into the cubicle office furniture system. Offices in Japan have developed unique characteristics partly as
1960-586: The paper itself was moved more and more directly to filing cabinets or sent to specialized records management centers , or transformed into microfilm , or both. Modular desks seating several co-workers close by became common. Even executive or management desks became mass-produced, built of cheap plywood or fiberboard covered with wood finish, as the number of people managing the white collar workers became even greater. A student desk can be any desk form meant for use by an enrollee in elementary, secondary or postsecondary education. Anna Breadin designed and patented
2009-491: The period usually had massive structures. Desks of the Renaissance and later eras had relatively slimmer structures, and more and more drawers were added as woodworking became more precise and cabinet-making became a distinct trade. It is often possible to find out if a table or other piece of furniture of those times was designed to be used as a desk, by looking for a drawer with three small separations (one each for
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2058-606: The place where most government letters were written and laws were copied within a kingdom. The rooms of the chancery often had walls full of pigeonholes, constructed to hold rolled-up pieces of parchment for safekeeping or ready reference. This kind of structure was a precursor to the modern bookshelf. The introduction of the printing press during the Renaissance did not impact the setup and function of these government offices significantly. Medieval paintings and tapestries often show people in their private offices handling record-keeping books or writing on scrolls of parchment . Before
2107-414: The size of their cramped working surfaces. The cubicle walls have become a new place for workers to affix papers and other items once left on the horizontal desktop surface. Even computer monitor bezels themselves were used to attach reminder notes and business cards . Early in the 2000s, private office workers found that their side and back computer-placing furniture made it hard to show the contents of
2156-523: The storage of frequently used files and documents. Storage space : an open or enclosed support space for the storage of commonly used office supplies. Print and copy area : an open or enclosed support space with facilities for printing, scanning and copying. Mail area : an open or semi-open support space where employees can pick up or deliver their mail. Pantry area : an open or enclosed support space where employees can get refreshments and where supplies for visitor hospitality are kept. Break area :
2205-402: The two pedestals and about two-thirds of the desk surface. Such desks are sometimes called "left-pedestal desks" and "right-pedestal desks", depending on the position of the single pedestal. These desks are not as tall as normal adult desks. In some cases, the desk is connected from the seat to the table. The desks are usually mass-produced in steel or wood and sold on the consumer market. There
2254-600: The use of large, open floor plans and desks that faced supervisors. As a result, in 1915, the Equitable Life Insurance Company in New York City introduced the "Modern Efficiency Desk" with a flat top and drawers below, designed to allow managers an easy view of the workers. This led to a demand for large square footage per floor in buildings, and a return to the open spaces that were seen in pre–industrial revolution buildings. However, by
2303-709: The word in 1395 to mean a place where business is transacted in The Canterbury Tales . As mercantilism became the dominant economic theory of the Renaissance , merchants tended to conduct their business in buildings that also sometimes housed people doing retail sales, warehousing, and clerical work. During the 15th century, the population density in many cities reached a point where merchants began to use stand-alone buildings to conduct their business. A distinction began to develop between religious, administrative/military, and commercial uses for buildings. The first purpose-built office spaces were constructed in
2352-502: Was built to a specific height to make typing easier and more comfortable than when using a standard or traditional desk. The L-shaped desk also became popular, with the "leg" being used as an annex for the typewriter. Another big expansion occurred after the Second World War with the spread of photocopying . Paperwork further increased the number of desk workers, whose work surfaces diminished in size as office rents rose, and
2401-539: Was the Brunswick Building, built in Liverpool in 1841. The invention of the safety elevator in 1852 by Elisha Otis enabled the rapid upward escalation of buildings. By the end of the 19th century, larger office buildings frequently contained large glass atriums to allow light into the complex and improve air circulation. By 1906, Sears , Roebuck, and Co. had opened their headquarters operation in
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