In Germany, BMW's headquarters were designed to look like the four cylinders of an engine. Place and purpose became one. It was a business model that exuded stability and confidence, where people knew their exact working hours and where they would work. But new technologies have forced radical change. Between them, personal computers and the Internet have progressively stretched the eight-hour day to 24.
Corporations are open for business all day, every day.
Real-time processing replaced batch. For executives, evenings and weekends frequently became company hours. Personal computers needed desks, desks needed offices and offices needed intranet connections. Not any more.