Muzak Enables the Culture of Horizontality

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Muzak, like air-conditioning and fluorescent lighting, originally emerged as an acclimatization technology for the extreme environment of the skyscraper. Along with air-conditioning and fluorescent lighting, it allowed vast, horizontal interior spaces, previously useable only for warehouses, to become habitable. The lower costs of building these new, flat structures in less expensive suburban locations and the growing efficiency of the same data communication technologies that Muzak itself employed, soon made tall buildings obsolete.

The development of cybernetic theories after the war transformed management structures and capitalized on the new horizontality, making the office floor a source for innovation and positive change. Having learned from the Hawthorne Effect, managers no longer acted as overseers trying to keep employees from wasting time and becoming distracted from their tasks and instead encouraged employees to take on greater responsibility for themselves and their own position within the corporation. In order for employees to share information and expertise, social interaction became crucial and open environments replaced closed offices and executive floors. Large interiors became the stage where greater freedom of communication could be facilitated. In particular, the open plans and horizontal methods of organization developed by proponents of Büro Landschaft became a major aspect of both late modern architecture and management strategy.

Open plans eliminate walls completely or replace them with partitions to allow for greater flexibility in programme and increased interaction among employees. This openness, however, also enables the unimpeded circulation of unpleasant background noise as well, including the distracting sounds of office machines, ventilation systems, coworkers, and exterior traffic. Muzak masks these background sounds, helping employees and customers focus on messages and sounds that matter while adding a layer of sensory engagement to an otherwise blank architecture.

Beyond its ability to deliver cybernetic efficiency, horizontality destroys skyscrapers and kills cities. It makes possible a more fluid and responsive corporate structure, better able to respond to changing economic conditions. The lack of hierarchy and fluidity of the horizontal corporation are the very basis of contemporary society. Muzak’s ability to structure an environment invisibly becomes a model for the Post-Fordist corporation.

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