The History of Cubicles

In the early 1960s, designer Robert Propst was working as the head of Herman Miller’s research arm. At the time, the furniture manufacturer was known for mid-century design pieces like the Eames chair. Probst wanted to understand the modern office and observed that he was happier, healthier, and more productive when he had different surfaces to work on. He commissioned research from design experts that also showed office spaces that were flexible and customized produced better work. At that time, offices were dominated by immoveable, heavy desks placed in large, open spaces; only executives had private offices. But the benefit of that privacy was clear — executives with personal offices were more productive than worker bees seated in the chaotic open spaces. Probst wanted to help these lower-tier workers by creating what he called the Action Office, a layout that relied on lightweight sitting and standing desks and filing systems as well as acoustic panels to help insulate workers from the noise of telephone calls and typing. However, American offices didn’t adopt the Action Office plan, in part because the components were more suited to individual workers than large companies looking to accommodate large amounts of people. They were also hard to assemble and annoyed executives, who didn’t place value in the individuality of their workers. Thus, Action Office was typically used to furnish the home offices of executives rather than to help office workers, as Probst had intended. Crushed by the failure, he went back to the drawing board and created the Action Office II, which featured miniature wall panels of multiple heights, separating each space into its own office without cutting workers off from colleagues. However, companies didn’t use Action Office II and its many knockoffs the way Probst intended — instead of creating roomy desk spaces with different designs and panel heights, they created tiny, boxed-in desks and crammed even more workers into ever-smaller amounts of personal space. Tax code changes also aided the rise of the cubicle farm, as writing off assets like furniture became easier in the 1960s, and thus buying office furniture that stood the test of time became less important. The energy crisis of the 1970s brought with it new building regulations, but this caused volatile organic compounds (like formaldehyde) released by the cubicles’ materials to linger in the air and office workers began to get sick. More germs and noise and less privacy and light also made workers less productive and more miserable. While some cubicle issues such as worker exposure to formaldehyde were addressed by updating materials, others persisted, including the overcrowding and environmental stressors that cubicles created for workers. Propst remained horrified by this until his death in 2000. While many companies have now switched to open floorplans (which come with their own upsides and downsides), around 30% of employees still work in cubicles today.