Selestat, France -- Workplaces for Workers [The Place of Work]

Field: Engineering (Physical Sciences)

S E L E S T A T . F R A N C E Workplaces for Workers Lucien Kroll In the 1970s, new thinking about industrial working conditions was developed in Europe. I n France, the National Agency for the Improvement of Working Conditions developed rela­ tionships with all the people concerned with this issue — business associations, unions, universities, ergonomics engi­ neers, industrial designers and others. The agency initiated a movement of research about creating work spaces based on the experience of workers rather than the prescriptions of experts, who are only interested in mechanical spaces. I t is a pity that we do not hear Top and a b o v e ; P r o p o s a l f o r t h e K r o n e n b o u r g b o t t l i n g p l a n t in S e l e s t a t , France. In the p l a n , production spaces a n d a train shed are at t h e top. These l a r g e spaces are d e s i g n e d as a c o m b i n a t i o n of s m a l l e r v o l u m e s . A c t i v i t i e s t h a t do r i o t h a v e t o be l o c a t e d in t h e p r o d u c t i o n b u i l d ­ ing, such as a d m i n i s t r a t i o n and s t o r a g e o f r a w m a t e r i a l s , are located in the s m a l l e r (in t h e model, the foreground.) The b u i l d i n g s are a r r a n g e d along structures s h o w n in t h e bottom o f t h e p i a n , production f l o o r and t r a i n shed are in t h e approach to less mechanical relations, such as the health and comfort of workers: They were mercenaries! The K3 competition took place under diis renewal of attitudes toward the conception and design of working spaces, right after the completion of some rather rudimentary experiments. The Volvo factory built in Kalkar, Sweden, was one o f the better attempts. Everywhere else, productivity and discipline were considered first. At best, some views to interior gardens were provided. The rest of the spaces and environments were dedicated to die engines' comfort — not the workers' culture, nor the involvement of workers in teams or their creativity in dieir own organization or their ability to create rewarding social relationships. Our intentions of creating more lively places was understood differently by Kronenbourg's director and by workers' teams: we just had to adopt an open-minded attitude and translate working relationships we could observe into architectural forms. The competition deeply worried Kronenbourg's management. After i t eliminated the first two competitors, Kronenbourg could not make up its mind between Renzo Piano (modern and brilliant technique; humans should be grateful for the opportunity to assist a beautiful machine) and us (complex P L A C E S about this association any more and that its bulletin is no longer published. Before and during the competition for a new Kronenbourg brewery (named K3 ) in Selestat, France (near Strasbourg), we attended informational sessions in Strasbourg on the improve­ ment of working spaces; of the four competitors, we were the only one to do so. Those sessions involved experts in psychology, employment, ergo­ nomics and brewing techniques and representatives of German and French workers' unions. The discussion with the ergonomics engineers was rather tense; they pretended to be neutral but were, above all, interested in the pro­ ductivity and efficiency of workers' gestures. They anxiously prevented themselves from extending their a l i n e a r o p e n space a n d c o u r t y a r d s so t h e c o m p l e x r e s e m b l e s a t r a d i ­ tional brewery village.