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 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article