This chapter aims to open up new analytical perspectives on the uses and roles of artefacts and space design in everyday organizational life, by addressing the aesthetic dimensions of the everyday world of work and drawing attention to the aesthetic agency of artefacts. The first section addresses theoretical issues to lay bare specific principles and methods for analysing the aesthetic character of organizational life, space and actions, and answering the question of how do objects work aesthetically to shaping habits, behaviours and lifestyles in organizations. The second section presents two case studies: the new space of co-working Stables (2020) that repurposed recently the former Austro-Hungarian imperial stables in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), and the new brand buildings of Bosch Engineering Centers in Cluj-Napoca (2020, 2024) and Holzkirchen, Germany (2022). I argue that these are not mere cases of practices of renovating and repurposing spaces or urban regeneration of former industrial sites. Rather, they exemplify blatantly the role that aesthetic elements play in mediating action, control and performance in organizations as well as the different aesthetic imperatives in postmodern organizations, including the issue of their artification when compared to modern organizations.

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Objects at Work: Uses and Roles of Artefacts and Space Design in Everyday Organizational Life—Two Case Studies

  • Dan Eugen Ratiu

摘要

This chapter aims to open up new analytical perspectives on the uses and roles of artefacts and space design in everyday organizational life, by addressing the aesthetic dimensions of the everyday world of work and drawing attention to the aesthetic agency of artefacts. The first section addresses theoretical issues to lay bare specific principles and methods for analysing the aesthetic character of organizational life, space and actions, and answering the question of how do objects work aesthetically to shaping habits, behaviours and lifestyles in organizations. The second section presents two case studies: the new space of co-working Stables (2020) that repurposed recently the former Austro-Hungarian imperial stables in Cluj-Napoca (Romania), and the new brand buildings of Bosch Engineering Centers in Cluj-Napoca (2020, 2024) and Holzkirchen, Germany (2022). I argue that these are not mere cases of practices of renovating and repurposing spaces or urban regeneration of former industrial sites. Rather, they exemplify blatantly the role that aesthetic elements play in mediating action, control and performance in organizations as well as the different aesthetic imperatives in postmodern organizations, including the issue of their artification when compared to modern organizations.