Office Environment Design: An Assessment of Efficiency

This Technical Communication reviews the results of several research studies with respect to the attitudes of office users toward the landscaped, open office concept, or Burolandschaft, and advances a general conclusion concerning the functional efficiency of landscaped offices. It is generally concluded that space planning for complex office environments requires an integrated, total system approach in which specification of user requirements and performance criteria is given first and high priority. It is also concluded that the claims of the landscaped office protagonists for office productivity have not been substantiated. The landscaped office looks better but is judged to function no better than conventional offices. The data reviewed in this Communication strongly suggest that the implementation of landscaped office environments will result in loss of visual and acoustic privacy, particularly with respect to employees engaged in complex cognitive tasks.