Architects redesigned buildings to create more corners.
After the Second World War, American corporations adopted the military command-and-control model for their management structures. Office layouts mirrored the hierarchy. Rank-and-file workers sat in open floor plans reminiscent of factory floors, visible to supervisors at all times.1 Senior employees occupied enclosed offices along the building perimeter, where windows offered natural light and views.
The most desirable offices sat at the corners, where two exterior walls provided windows on adjacent sides. By the 1950s, the corner office had become synonymous with executive authority.
Research in the 1980s on congruence theory found that workspace features communicated an employee's status within the organization. The top markers included size of office space, privileged location, high-quality furnishings, and controlled access.2 The corner office satisfied nearly every criterion at once.
Demand grew so intense that architects modified building designs to accommodate more corner positions. The Scotia Plaza in Toronto, completed in 1988, was designed with twenty-two corner offices.3
The technology sector began dismantling the tradition in the 2010s. Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg worked in an open floor plan alongside other employees. Square's Jack Dorsey and Virgin's Richard Branson followed.4 Organization-wide amenities, from cafeterias to meditation rooms, replaced individual status markers.
After the pandemic of 2020, a CBRE survey of 185 corporate real estate executives found that fifty-two percent planned to reduce their total office footprint.5 Former corner offices were converted into meeting rooms, libraries, and collaborative spaces. The phrase itself remains in the language as a metonym for executive power, even as the rooms it describes are disappearing from the buildings where power is exercised.