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Project

Bureaucracy by Design? EU Office Interiors as an Interface Between Architectural “Hardware” and Managerial “Software”, 1951-2002

Our research project will explore the history of European Union office buildings in Luxembourg, Brussels, and Strasbourg. By focusing on office interiors (1950s – early 2000s), we will not only add to research on the histories of office architecture and cultures of office work, but also to research on the history of European integration. We will develop an analytical framework which approaches the office as a space determined by architectural and managerial ideas. In addition, we will consider EU offices as material infrastructures that have contributed to the European integration process. Using a set of metaphors from the field of informatics, we contend that EU office interiors were “interfaces” where the material dimension of architecture (“hardware”) and the immaterial managerial programme (“software”) met. We hypothesize that managerial programmes (a) functioned as normative ideological frameworks for the creation of “efficiency”, and (b) had an impact on interior design choices, as well as on the administrative work performed in the office buildings. For a selection of five EU institutions (Parliament, Commission, Council, Court, and European Investment Bank), we will analyse which design choices were made regarding the office interiors, and if these were perceived as successful.

Date:1 Jan 2022 →  Today
Keywords:history of office buildings and cultures of office work, history of architecture and interior design, history of European integration, hidden integration of Europe
Disciplines:Political history, European history, Modern and contemporary history, Architectural heritage and conservation