Jennifer Kaufmann-Buhler is a design historian whose research focuses on the history of office design and office furniture in the late 20th century. Kaufmann-Buhler’s research examines the role of objects and spaces in everyday life with an emphasis on the experiences and perspectives of consumers and users. Her research on the history of the American open plan office considers the tension between the progressive ideals of the architects, designers, and furniture manufacturers who first promoted the open plan and the material, political, social, and technological problems that workers and organizations encountered as the open plan became a mainstream American office design concept in the late 20th century.
She is the author of the book Open Plan: A Design History of the American Office (Bloomsbury, 2021) along with articles in Design and Culture, The Journal of Design History, Technology and Culture, and IEEE Annals of the History of Computing and presented her work at various conferences, including the Business History Conference, the Society for Historians of Technology (SHOT), the Popular Culture Association, and the Design History Society.
Please see my CV and Publications for more detail.
Jennifer Kaufmann-Buhler 