I’m liking this new site by Caruso St. John architects: “Research, proposals and updates towards a new national office for Arts Council England”. Designed and built by Practise and Louis Bonnet. Lots of great information on the history of the development of the concept of the office itself, from concept to organisation via art and furniture.

“The new Arts Council England office in central London will provide a base for more than 250 people. It will also provide a hub and a resource for the nine regional offices. Caruso St John Architects have been commissioned to design the new office and have produced this site as an integral part of the project. This site aims to explore how an organisation like Arts Council England can work together in one place as a coherent but diverse whole in an environment that supports and represents the work of the Arts Council. Conceived as collection of facts and ideas, the site is intended to provide a brief history of the office as a specialised building type and to be a kind of manual that provides a vocabulary of words and concepts from which the Arts Council England office project can emerge. Above all it aims to de-mystify the parameters of office design and begin to engage future users and collaborators in the development process of this exciting project.”

Whilst at the BBC, I was briefly involved in the consulation process on new BBC buildings, and one of the highlights of a workshop session organised by Richard Sambrook was a talk by Jeremy Myerson, author of The 21st Century Office. I find this interplay between organisation and space fascinating, and this site provides yet more grist to the mill.

Arts Council: New National Office
[via Gravestmor]

Update: James Goggin from Practise kindly emailed me to point out that it’s not actually a new site, but dates from November 2003, and that the Arts Council England office as was planned didn’t end up going ahead. But we agreed it’s still a great resource 🙂