This attitude toward the size of work groups is supported by the findings of the Pilkington Research Unit, in their investigations of office life (Office Design: A Study of Environment, ed. Peter Manning, Department of Building Science, University of Liverpool, 1965, pp. 104—28). In a very large study indeed, office workers were asked their opinions of large offices and small offices. The statements they chose most often to describe their opinions were: “The larger offices make one feel relatively unimportant” and “There is an uncomfortable feeling of being watched all the time in a large office.” And when asked to compare five different possible layouts for offices, workers consistently chose those layouts in which workgroups were smallest.
The five layouts in order of preference.
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I48 SMALL WORK GROUPS
Analysis of the results also showed that ‘‘the people who work in small office areas are more opposed to large office areas than those who actually work in them.” Apparently, once people have had the experience of working in small groups, they find it very uncomfortable to imagine going back to the larger office settings.
In our own survey of attitudes toward workspace—taken among workers at the Berkeley City Hall—we found that people prefer to be part of a group that ranges from two to eight. When there are more than eight, people lose touch with the group as a human gathering; and almost no one likes working alone.
A similar finding is reported by the Japanese architect, T. Takano, in his study of work groups in Japan. In the offices he studied, he found that five persons formed the most useful functional group. (Building Section, Building and Repairs Bureau, Ministry of Construction: The Design of Akita prefectural government office, Public Buildings, 1961.)
How should these small groups be related to each other? Brian Wells points out that while small offices support an intimate atmosphere, they do not support communications between groups. “The Psycho-Social Influence of Building Environment” (Building Science-, Vol. 1, Pergamon Press, 1965, p. 153). It would seem that this problem can be solved by arranging the small work groups so that several of them share common facilities: drinking fountains, toilets, office equipment, perhaps a common anteroom and garden.
Therefore:
Break institutions into small, spatially identifiable work groups, with less than half a dozen people in each. Arrange these work groups so that each person is in at least partial view of the other members of his own group; and arrange several groups in such a way that they share a common entrance, food, office equipment, drinking fountains, bathrooms.
Lay the workgroups out with respect to each other so that the distances between groups is within the constraints of office connections (82), and give each group office space which leaves room to expand and to contract—flexible office space (14.6) ; provide a common area, either for the group itself or for several groups together or both—common area at the heart (129). Treat each small work group, in every kind of industry and office, as a place of learning—master and apprentices (83). Give it its own stair, directly to the street—open stairs (158). Arrange the individual workspaces within the small work group according to half-private office (152) and workspace enclosure (183). . . .
704.
149 reception
WELCOMES YOU
. . . in a public building, or an office where there are many people coming in, self-governing workshops and offices
(8o), SMALL SERVICES WITHOUT RED TAPE (8 I ) , TRAVELER’S INN
(91), flexible office space (146)—the place inside the entrance room (130) plays an essential role; it must be built from the very start with the right atmosphere. This pattern was originally proposed by Clyde Dorsett of the National Institute of Mental Health, in a program for community mental health clinics.
Have you ever walked into a public building and been processed by the receptionist as if you were a package?
To make a person feel at ease, you must do the same for him as you would do to welcome him to your home; go toward him, greet him, offer him a chair, offer him some food and drink, and take his coat.
In most institutions the person arriving has to go toward the receptionist; the receptionist remains passive and offers nothing. To be welcoming the receptionist must initiate the action—come forward and greet the person, offer a chair, food, a seat by the fire, coffee. Since it is first impressions which count, this whole atmosphere should be the first thing a person encounters.
A beautiful example we know is the reception desk at Browns Hotel in London. You pass into the hotel through a small, unassuming entrance, not unlike the entrance to a house. You pass through two or three rooms; then come to the central room in which there are two old writing desks. The receptionist comes forward from an inner office, invites you to sit down in a comfortable chair at one of these writing desks, and sits down with you while you fill out the hotel register.
2. Roads. To protect the countryside from suburban encroachment, the roads running out into the countryside must be vastly reduced in number. A loose network of interconnected roads, at one-mile intervals with little encouragement for through-traffic to pass through them, is quite enough.
3. Lots. Situate homesteads, houses, and cottages along these country roads one or two lots deep, always setting them off the road with the open land behind them. The minivium land for a homestead must be approximately one-half acre to allow for basic farming. However, some of the housing could be in rows or clusters, with people working the land behind collectively. Assuming one-half acre lots around a one mile square of open land, we can have 400 households to the square mile. With four people per household, that is 1600 people per square mile; not very different from an ordinary low density suburb.
4. Footpaths. The countryside can be made accessible to city people by means of footpaths and trails running from the edge of the city and from the country roads into the countryside, across the squares of open land.
Therefore:
In the zone where city and country meet, place country roads at least a mile apart, so that they enclose squares of countryside and farmland at least one square mile in area. Build homesteads along these roads, one lot deep, on lots of at least half an acre, with the square mile of open countryside or farmland behind the houses.
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The reasons most reception areas fail completely to have this quality, is that the receptionist’s desk forms a barrier, so that the desk and equipment together help to create an institutional atmosphere, quite at odds with the feeling of welcome.
Therefore:
Arrange a series of welcoming things immediately inside the entrance—soft chairs, a fireplace, food, coffee. Place the reception desk so that it is not between the receptionist and the welcoming area, but to one side at an angle—so that she, or he, can get up and walk toward the people who come in, greet them, and then invite them to sit down.
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