78
WORKSPIRIT
78
WORKSPIRIT
NC
Is there a space for theatre and playfulness in an offi ce?
SP Well, it depends what you mean
by that – a slide? I prefer meaningful architecture
or architectural interventions, for me an unexpected
skylight is playful, and can be dramatic, but I do not
like the offi ce to be designed as a theatre prop with
transient elements. It is important not to make offi ces
so precious that it threatens people. If people can
only admire but can’t relax, then we missed the
point. It’s like having white carpets. But yes, you
should have the choice to play, if this becomes
a request from the users and if there is the appro-
priate space. We are working in China and ping-pong
is a big thing there, so the users have requested this
facility. And you know, no one is productive for
eight hours a day, so they may as well play; it is
good for the spirit.
NC
Do you ever look at other sorts of spaces – schools,
hotels, colleges – whatever, just to see how they work
and if they bring some sort of fresh insight?
SP We have never done a school,
but would love to and hospitals, my god,
hospitals are in a desperate state. You need to
think of them as workplaces for the medical staff
and the patients as clients and create healing places.
Libraries are lovely spaces, however digital we may
have become. I was giving a talk yesterday and said,
“What has happened to us?” At school, we worked in
the library, we worked in the canteen, we worked in the
garden, you sat on a wall and worked, you worked at
home, we were so fl exible and still managed to write
our dissertations and gained degrees.
Then you go to work and suddenly you are like “I have
to have my own desk,” and your career progression is
marked by getting a bigger desk, or the window, or
your own offi ce. That youthful attitude goes out the
window and we get old! When you remind people they
say, “Yeah, my best times were at university.” So why
don’t we do it like that again then?
NC
Are schools are fl exible because the furniture is relatively
cheap and you can move the desks around?
SP I don’t really believe in the uncon-
trolled fl exibility of furniture; that would be chaos.
I believe more in the fl exibility of people. We should
be moving around rather then using partitions and
furniture. The whole idea of furniture with wheels,
that didn’t really go anywhere.
You know children sit on the fl oor in their classrooms.
I sometimes give this example to my clients. What is
