Isaak, EV; (2006) Active social workplaces. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis studies three engineering consultant office buildings with the objective of establishing how similar organisations, placed in different spatial systems, create relationships within work groups and between different work units. Accepting that society is seen through the prism of space, it is argued that work groups create spatial and transpatial relationships within, and between, such work groups. Office spatiality and transpatiality is found to be affected by two main factors. First spatial properties create the links between the local and the global scale, allowing social interactions and frequent useful contacts within, and between, different groups, and, secondly, the office management model create the social rules that shape people's socio-spatial encounters. The theoretical background gives the main spatial, social and management thinking leading to the descriptive and analytical strategies using Space Syntax tools. The main argument of this research project is that localized work groups, with global spatiality and transpatiality, can override real and social distance between, and within, work units. Under these conditions the division of office labour will reinforce mechanical or organic solidarity in the same working society, creating 'social harmony' and, consequently, the efficient transition between scientific and social knowledge that reforms office organisations into active social work places.

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