This study looks at creative offices as a form of control. The analysis
at the moment is preliminary and focuses on the question of what kind
values and behaviours are symbolically enforced by the spatial design,
and what kind of worker subjectivities are assumed or imposed in
consequence. The analysis focuses on two aspects of creative physical
space in particular the politics of transparency and visibility and the
politics of non spatiality. By the visual analysis of the pre existing
photographs, the paper exposes darker sides of organizational efforts
aimed at promoting creativity and high performance. Openness and
transparency subject employees to an inescapable gaze, while the spatial
solutions still seem to guard and protect the organizational
boundaries. Non spatiality disguises references to the workplace as
workplace, filling it with various, often simultaneous references to
cafes, nature, kitchen, and other places usually visited during leisure
time. On the other hand, there are also spatial references to classrooms
or even factories with assembly lines, which have positive connotations
such as learning and effectiveness, but also negative connotations,
such as inferiority, subordination and standardization. By bringing up
the value laden ideas and assumptions enforced by the contemporary
design of creative offices, the aim is to expose them to be critically
and openly discussed and questioned.