Clive Wilkinson: The Theatre of Work

Architect and writer Clive Wilkinson examines global developments in the workplace and proposes innovative principles for a design process that will bring the concept of ‘work as theatre’ to fruition.

The modern workplace has evolved from a dehumanized cubicle landscape to space designed for intelligent human life. While utility and amenity are vastly improved, wh at advances have been made in building truly creative communities that spark creativity, knowledge sharing and collaboration? Is the 21st century office performing at peak? Clive Wilkinson - The Theatre of Work proposes an intensified relationship between office users and the space they occupy. The new workspace should amplify and celebrate the activity of work and of human community, and in the process, becoming vital and compelling Theatre.

In defining this new landscape, the author examines global devel opments in workplace thinking, historical antecedents, the performance touch-points for the new office, and proposes seven humanistic principles that will inform a holistic design process that can bring this concept of Theatre to fruition. Each of these principles is demonstrated through case studies of the work of his renowned design studio, Clive Wilkinson Architects (CWA), with rich iconography, diagrammatic strategy and contextual ingenuity. The outcome of this process, with its multiple performative la yers, effectively promotes elevating a corporate brief of basic needs and goals to a profoundly human-centred presentation of ‘work as theatre’ .