This week’s news that 14 post-war offices, built between
1964 and 1984, will be protected as listed buildings prompts reflections on
what makes an office building special, maybe even worth “preserving”.
The newly listed buildings, says English Heritage, “show how
architecture has adapted to recent radical changes in how we work: they show
how the open-plan working space for computer-led work came about, and how
architects responded to the need for lettable, attractive spaces with ingenuity
and a deep understanding of human needs..”
Architectural considerations aside, two aspects seem particularly
important. How well does the building contribute to a sense of place? Does it
enhance its locality or sit in it like a cuckoo. The recently listed buildings
divide public and professional opinion, now as then.
The second question is how well do they serve the needs of
today? Have they proved flexible and adaptable and have the interventions made
over the decades enhanced or detracted from the qualities of the original
design?
A notable feature of some of the buildings on the list
(particularly the Central Electricity Generating Board Building in Bristol and Gateway
House in Basingstoke) is that they had strong planning ideas behind them, where
the building form helped the organisations structure their groups, provide
local identity, share amenities and communicate much more with each other than
in the traditional forms of the day.
How many of today’s new workplace buildings achieve as much
as that?
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