Spaces for creativity: between social and business agendas

Abstract

The essence and the meaning of work passes also through its spaces. The architecture of labor, in its attempt to follow the dominant economic discourse, has been facing a hard challenge in shaping the trajectories of work. In fact, after the Second World War, the economy has changed radically by affecting the way in which people work: immaterial labor became the dominant form of production and creativity the leading driver of competitiveness and innovation. In this work of thesis, the perspective is shifted, so then the changes in economy and production are mirrored in their physical results. The main purpose of this work is to understand how working space’s conception has evolved according to the economic transformations, by studying the relationship between space and work with an eye on the social element as a key factor. This dimension will be analyzed by considering the historical working spaces’ evolution until the current trends linked to the recent urban regeneration phenomenon interesting the old industrial areas, left empty by Fordism and now reused as appealing creative working space, and corporate architecture, that is intentionally and explicitly devoted to design the optimal space for work.