Large corporate offices emerged in the late 19th century as growing industrial businesses needed more administrative coordination. Companies wanted to have offices downtown, but real estate was scarce, so architects went vertical with tall steel-framed buildings.
At first, private offices were signs of prestige; open workspaces were for low-level clerical employees. But designers were starting to celebrate the spatial openness possible with modern building technology. Architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe built innovative open-plan homes for rich clients. Why not offices too? It was not only cheaper to put workers in a big open space. Tearing out the walls promised other advantages, too, like flexibility to rearrange the office based on workflow.
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