Behind Office Doors (Paperback). This item is unavailable.
Language: English
Published by Leuven University Press, Leuven, 2026
- Softcover
- New

Seller: Grand Eagle Retail, Bensenville, IL, U.S.A.Grand Eagle Retail
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Condition: New
£ 48.26
Item description from seller
Paperback. A transdisciplinary history of the 20th-century office, exploring how its spatial forms, technological systems and managerial ideologies were constructed, challenged and lived with.Throughout the twentieth century, office buildings became central to the organisation of societies yet what went on inside them has remained remarkably understudied. Behind Office Doors explores this history by focusing on users and everyday practices. It examines how office spaces were conceived by architects, designers and managers, and how they were inhabited, experienced and contested by workers. From filing cabinets and air conditioning to EU offices and colonial bureaucracies, the chapters trace how design, technology and organisational thinking shaped office life. Alongside case studies on Europe, North America, Asia and colonial Africa, the contributions reflect on how the office has been approached in historiography. Drawing on cross-disciplinary research, this book argues for the development of historical office studies, showing how the design and management of offices have shaped cultures of work. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.…
Seller Inventory # 9789462704992
- Title
- Behind Office Doors (Paperback)
- Author
- Jens van de Maele
- Publisher
- Leuven University Press, Leuven
- Publication year
- 2026
- Condition
- new
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 9462704996
- ISBN 13
- 9789462704992
A transdisciplinary history of the 20th-century office, exploring how its spatial forms, technological systems and managerial ideologies were constructed, challenged and lived with.
Throughout the twentieth century, office buildings became central to the organisation of societies – yet what went on inside them has remained remarkably understudied. Behind Office Doors explores this history by focusing on users and everyday practices. It examines how office spaces were conceived by architects, designers and managers, and how they were inhabited, experienced and contested by workers. From filing cabinets and air conditioning to EU offices and colonial bureaucracies, the chapters trace how design, technology and organisational thinking shaped office life. Alongside case studies on Europe, North America, Asia and colonial Africa, the contributions reflect on how the office has been approached in historiography. Drawing on cross-disciplinary research, this book argues for the development of historical office studies, showing how the design and management of offices have shaped cultures of work.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Martin Kohlrausch is professor of European Political History and head of the research unit Modernity and Society at the KU Leuven.
Johan Lagae is Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning at Ghent University.
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.