How to Work with Space
Spatial Knowledge in Organizations and Research Practice
Palgrave Studies in Business, Arts and Humanities series. Series Editors Samantha Parsley & Steven Taylor
How to Work with Space draws on relational concepts of physical space as a way of understanding and framing organizational experience. Space is framed as something central and entangled, freeing it from objective, external binaries by positioning it alongside the social, inter-subjective sphere. This cultivates an emplaced, relational, and more-than-human understanding of the emotional, sensory, and atmospheric experiences that happen at work.
By tapping into personal experience, spatial theories become intwined with everyday spaces at home and at the office. This subtly shifts the discussion toward what is possible when space is interwoven into day-to-day actions. The book culminates with a case study exploring the aesthetic, sensory, and embodied relationships between a not-for-profit, youth health organization and their office encounters during a significant relocation. By highlighting before and after moments between the staff and their offices, a rich picture of their experience emerges through spatial memory, sensory knowledge, and aesthetic understanding.
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What people are saying
“This book is a unique exploration of workspace. It draws from a wide variety of philosophies, theories, and concepts to provide a thoughtful, nuanced, and fresh perspective on contemporary workspace and working practices. Throughout the book, Karen Messer asks all the right questions and encourages us to tune in and notice how our material environments can impact our sensory, emotional, and subjective experiences. This book will be a fascinating read for those working in interdisciplinary academic fields, designers of space, and anyone interested in the relationship between human behaviour and space.”
— Harriet Shortt, Associate Professor in Organisation Studies at UWE Bristol
“This book transports us into a world attuned to the ephemeral rhythms, textures, lighting, and atmospheres entangled in ordinary spaces. It makes present a generative world resonating with experience meeting matter, bodies and practices permeated by powerful forms and forces ordinarily ignored.”
— Kathleen Stewart, Professor Emeritus at The University of Texas at Austin, author of Ordinary Affects