Starting by exploring the theory of space and time and the effects of the development of electricity in the formation of technology. Telecommunication has impacted the traditional definition of space. Castells explores how information technology has impacted the definition of a corporation and how space no longer defines the organization’s work space as many members of that organization increasingly work from home, on the road or even in different countries. The physical definition of space is ‘obsolete’ as many businesses operate through the virtual cyberspace. I even argue that space does not even have a true definition in the case of online organizations; the ‘virtual space’ is not descriptive enough to most cases. I for example, run a web hosting company where I manage the IT portion (formerly from Ottawa, then Toronto and now Calgary) and my friend manages the ‘accounts’ portion all the way from Germany. The fact that we have been communicating and working together for the last 4 years through virtual forms of communication the ‘work space’ in no existence anymore. Our company with 26 clients has no physical address, nor an actual listed location and now that I think about, it doesn’t even exist anywhere in the physical world, but yet is does exist at the same time on the virtual space.
One of the most growing fields in architecture which is not yet recognized by our association is ‘software architecture’, and since physical space is no longer essential for corporation growth, how will that impact our careers as architects? And how prepared are we for such challenge? Considering that most architectural work these days is ‘service architecture’ (i.e. call centers, warehouses or office building full of cubicles to service the needs of workers who may be operating online)
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