- October 18, 2018, 3–5 p.m.
The Open Plan Office in the Windy City
Featuring: Jennifer Kaufmann-BuhlerNewberry Library
60 West Walton Street, Chicago, Illinois 60610
![](https://artdesignchicago-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/system/scrapbook/placements/files/600/standard/CBQGR2731M_2_o2.jpg?1512082840)
Drafting and engineering department at Burlington general offices in Chicago, 1948. From the CB&Q collection. Newberry Library. Call No. CB&Q A-5
In the late 1960s, the open plan office concept challenged conventional office planning by radically reimagining the office as a space that could reduce hierarchy, increase communication, and support organizational change. Jennifer Kaufmann-Buhler, Assistant Professor of Design History at Purdue University, argues that the city of Chicago was a vital nexus of activity in the earliest promotion and experimentation of the open plan office concept.