Bullshit Space in Capitalism’s core
Article: Steve Rushton. Illustration: Hamish Kallin.
The downstairs two floors of the global bank UBS's 13-storey headquarters lie empty. In the City of London, this space – dubbed a 'double-height reception' – is barren of activity. Except for the morning, lunch and evening rush hours, this space's predominant captives are bored-looking security guards and receptionists. These voids mainly function as walk-through areas between outside and lifts or escalators. The architect's blurb says UBS resembles a machine, a well-oiled money-making machine. Yet many elephants could roam this bottom room, with space priced at £75/foot. 30% of the building's total floor space (1 million square foot) is not offices. These non-office spaces cost tenants over £22 million/year in rent. Sure, buildings need hallways. But why not put the stairs near the doors? Why let space lie idle?
From gigantic fish tanks filling lobbies to quadruple-height receptions of glass for carbon-backing banks, UBS'S HQ is hardly alone. Many grand multi-floored entrance areas of the corporate power-houses are vacant, bar confined receptionists and security. These multi-floored receptions sometimes confine massive artworks; some encase mainly unused seating areas, and many have futuristic minimalist décor. Liminal voids. The internal and obvious contradiction is that for capitalism, space costs – and means – money. Globally, 60% of all wealth is held within real estate – with trillions of this syphoned upwards through the City. London is the epicentre of a housing crisis. Yet, at its core, why are acres of indoor space going unused?
A decade ago, David Graeber lifted the lid on just how much work is pointless with his ground-breaking essay Bullshit Jobs, later a book. What follows is both homage and a dimensional shift. Bullshit Jobs need Bullshit Spaces not to work in. David's argument explores capitalism's (psychologically violent) power over our time; thinking about Bullshit Spaces opens up capitalism's dysfunctional relationship to the other three dimensions.
Let's start with time-space relationships. Idle receptionists beside grand desks act as centrepieces in empty corporate welcoming spaces; David described them as flunkies. They have no productive role; instead, their presence adds gravitas. Likewise, security guards (David described them as goons) are the main people mooching around inside and outside the City of London's power-houses. Their role is to provide the – again unnecessary – allure of violence to protect the buildings. These are both blue-collar Bullshit Jobs; David also pointed upstairs to where there are far more unnecessary white-collar roles afoot.
Bullshit Jobs prompted a massive backlash. Yet walk through the City, and these buildings' lower floors are crystal clear showrooms of capitalism's Bullshit facade. But what about counter-arguments? These would need to assert whether these areas have utility or whether the workers occupying them have utility.
A former housemate of mine worked in the reception area in the City, with the ethos of 'look busy and look pretty.' Is all receptionist work bullshit? Absolutely not. Reception can be vital - for instance in hospitals. It's likely that some City receptionists do more valuable work than others, and likewise, there would be exceptions where some reception spaces are not wasted – or entirely wasted. But exceptions don't disprove trends. A devil's advocate could point to the need to meet colleagues informally, meet visitors, and so on in these reception areas – even if they are barely used. Yet, if this is the case, why don't hospitals have similar areas? Surely nurses and other healthcare professionals need empty floors to have the chance to mingle as much as UBS workers?
Perhaps what these spaces are saying is that as prime location money making machines, the upstairs workers deserve the art, the opulence – the rest is necessary to breeze through. That this all gets them in a powerful head-space, before bringing in the dough. Yet on this logic the house of cards falls.
If these spaces are solely about making rich workers feel powerful, without other utility, this satisfies a Bullshit test. These spaces do nothing for society at large, as unnecessary work only serves to disempower people without creating anything socially useful. The adage says time is money but as UBS's downstairs shows - space is money. Perhaps more accurately, time and space are power. Because the interesting thing is that on capitalism's terms these spaces are useless. This system pushes one simple maxim – maximise profits, not squander money for the sake of it. Which segues into another one of David's conclusions. The global financial system has reversed from capitalism back into a feudal-like power game. In this, wealth is extracted upwards to powerful elites, who use their surplus to buy support with an army of hangers-on of different ranks. Just as royals had courts with high and low-ranking retainers, today's elites have white and blue-collar roles that do nothing or very little of value.
Feudalism's transition to capitalism is writ large over the City's skyline. The former asserted power through grand defensive and imposing buildings of aristocratic and religious authority – seen for miles around to empower the Norman overlords over those living off the commons. But how much has changed? Stone towers are now wrapped in glass. Feudal powerhouses were emulated, overtaken, and are now dwarfed. Styles deviate. Parallels remain. UBS's HQ is just one building with an aggressively defensive vibe, emulating buildings back to the Tower of London. For society, these spaces are useless. Even within capitalism's supposed logic – the downstairs lobbies are superfluous.
Yet capitalism's regression back into feudalism is better viewed zooming out from the City. Across these islands and beyond, many buildings lie idle. Estimates suggest one in six buildings are unused across Europe. If we lived in a purely money-making system, this makes no sense, yet if the aim of the game is power – control over people's time and space leveraged by wealth – this seems to describe better where we are at. However, this system is substantiated by many myths. It sells itself on the threat that no other system could be better or as efficient at co-ordinating life, time and space. Yet revealing the void spaces at the bottom of these corporate powerhouses is enough to undermine these mythical towers of power.
Steve Rushton is a London based writer who knew David (which is why we're keeping on first name terms).
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