What is an "office"? While we now define it as a space for administrative work, the word stems from the Latin officium, which originally referred to a bureaucratic position or duty rather than a physical location. In this episode of pplpod, we explore the architectural and cultural history of the workplace, from the scroll rooms of classical antiquity to the high-rise towers of today.

Join us as we discuss:

• The origins of centralized work: How the sheer volume of paperwork generated by organizations like the East India Company led to the first purpose-built office spaces in the 18th century.

• The surveillance of the clerk: The rise of the "Modern Efficiency Desk" in 1915, which utilized open floor plans to allow managers to easily view and m ...