Title: Aesthetic experiences of designed organisational space
Authors: Alfons Van Marrewijk
Addresses: Faculty of Social Science, Department of Culture, Organization and Management, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1081, HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Abstract: The paper explores employees| aesthetic experiences of designed organisational space. These experiences are important because designs are incomplete until they are realised in action. However, one of the main issues in this is the difficulty to grasp employees| perceptions and judgements of spatial aesthetics (Warren, 2008). To explore these employees| aesthetic experiences the paper studies two organisational buildings of Dutch telecom operator KPN were the author was both telecom engineer and organisational anthropologist. In an auto-ethnographic style two corporate buildings that triggered opposed aesthetic experiences are described. The paper reflects upon these experiences and the methodological consequences for studying spatial settings in organisations.
Keywords: organisational space; building design; spatial aesthetics; autoethnograpy; employee experiences; architecture; spatial design.
DOI: 10.1504/IJWOE.2011.041531
International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, 2011 Vol.4 No.1, pp.61 - 77
Published online: 25 Jul 2011 *
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