The picture below is of my old office … and the reason I have this picture is that I was experimenting with a recently acquired wide angle lens and wondered how much of this small room could I get in one picture. The act of doing this started me thinking about work environments – more specifically the desks of architects. How have they changed over time and do they still serve the same purpose as they did just a few years ago?

I’ve written about an architect’s office before (my office – here) but this time, I wanted to focus on the desk area itself. Is the question being: Can you tell anything about the person based on the appearance of their workspace? I sent out a request to architects and interior designers asking for pictures of their desks – as is – with no cleaning it up any more than would be typical. I was curious to see if the desks belonging to the architects that responded would share any similarities.

Would their desks be orderly or a chaotic?

Would they be adorned with curiosities or spartan?

How many would use drafting tables, computers, or some combination of the two?

Would the desks be large or small?

How about cubicles, open bullpen arrangements, private offices?

Would it show the personality of the individual or the culture of the office?

There are no right or wrong answers to these questions and after looking through the pictures that were submitted, I couldn’t see any patterns that were consistent across all the photo’s I received. I did notice that the ownership of the business was generally was reflected in the ownership of the desk area but I think that would be expected (think of it like owning your house versus renting; you are more likely to make modifications when it’s yours). I found looking at these pictures entertaining and there was a time when I was not beneath wanting to work at a place simply because the offices looked “more inspiring” than others.

The culture of a business can partially be told through looking at the work environment. I can’t help but think that if a person lays claim to their workspace that it would infer some sort of permanence – why hang art if you’re not going to be there very long? Just like architectural practices and styles are varied, so too are the desks of the employees, sometimes the message conveyed is more serious and professional than others.

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So were you surprised or did you see what you expected? I would love to hear your thoughts on the value of a proper work environment and the message that gets conveyed. What did you think of some of these work desks? I would appreciate it if you would be respectful to the people who took the time to send me the images of their desks. Not everyone gets a say in how things look or how much personality they can convey at their office.

I think it may be time to put together another one of these posts.

Cheers,