In 1983, the workplace strategy and architecture practice, DEGW, published a highly influential study into the impact of information technology on the future of office buildings and the workplace, titled ‘Office Research: Buildings and Information Technology’ (ORBIT). Representing the first intensive research study into the organisational, technical and architectural demands of office work in Britain, the report concluded that the information age was rendering companies increasingly complex in their organisational and technological requirements, and ultimately more dependent on buildings. Although ostensibly a study about technological change, this paper argues that ORBIT should be viewed as a critical document in the formulation of the relationship between architects, suppliers, users and the state in the closing decades of the twentieth century. Sponsored by industry giants from real estate firms, construction and office supply companies, and government regulators, ORBIT brought together industries that were previously uneasy partners in post-war Britain but were being realigned under the Thatcher government's push for service sector innovation to revive the deindustrialised economy. Examined as both a product and instrument of neoliberal economic policy, the paper argues that the authors, sponsors and subjects of the research were linked by the demands of productivity, competition and performance both in and of the workplace. Within this analysis, DEGW's development of ‘architectural consultancy’, as a service that is distinct from architectural design, is interpreted as mode of repositioning the architect within the knowledge economy.

中文翻译：

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知识经济中的建筑咨询：DEGW 和 ORBIT 报告

1983 年，工作场所战略和建筑实践 DEGW 发表了一篇极具影响力的研究，研究信息技术对未来办公楼和工作场所的影响，题为“办公室研究：建筑和信息技术”（ORBIT）。该报告代表了对英国办公室工作的组织、技术和建筑需求的首次深入研究，得出的结论是，信息时代使公司的组织和技术要求变得越来越复杂，最终更加依赖于建筑。尽管表面上是一项关于技术变革的研究，但本文认为 ORBIT 应被视为构建 20 世纪最后几十年建筑师、供应商、用户和国家之间关系的关键文件。在来自房地产公司、建筑和办公用品公司以及政府监管机构的行业巨头的赞助下，ORBIT 将战后英国以前不安的合作伙伴聚集在一起，但在撒切尔政府推动服务业创新以重振去工业化的情况下正在重新调整经济。该论文被视为新自由主义经济政策的产品和工具，认为研究的作者、赞助者和主题与工作场所和工作场所对生产力、竞争和绩效的需求有关。在这一分析中，DEGW 开发的“建筑咨询”作为一种不同于建筑设计的服务，被解释为在知识经济中重新定位建筑师的模式。