The NetWorkPlaceTM© Phenomenon

This paper presents an issue related to interior architectural environments, which is currently being investigated through an empirical research program entitled the NetWorkPlaceTM© study. It is delivered from a speculative standpoint which invites consideration and feedback. The radical structuralist conception of Castells' network society is adopted as the position from which to explore the experience of being-at-work in contemporary organisations. This brings into proximity the experience of the space of place and the space of flows as the new expression of sociability in networked organisations. This juxtapositioning, of what appear to be competing terms, provides the research space for investigating both a contemporary commercial phenomenon and in parallel, for postulating the ideological foundations of interior design. The speculative position, on which this discussion is based, anticipates that the proposed research framework and the experience of the investigative process are ones that also provide an ethical and rigorous foundation for establishing at least one perspective on the formulation of a design ethos.