The Epistemology of the Suburbs: Knowledge, Production, and Corporate Laboratory Design

Abstract

For those in search of a whipping boy for the evils of modern capi- talism, the corporate research laboratory seems like an easy choice. Seen from a passing car or a low-flying airplane (figs.1-2), these build- ings might appear to reinforce any number of cliches about the kind of people—and the kind of knowledge—created when profit reigns su- preme.Theirmonolithic,repetitivearchitectureconjuresimagesofthe man in the gray flannel suit, stripped of individuality and creativity, rotting in New Jersey. Their huge lawns and manicured trees hint that these are closed, isolated fortresses that do not produce disinterested knowledge for the betterment of humanity but instrumental knowl- edgethatservesonlythelogicofcapital.Afterall,aren'tthesetheplaces where nicotine is shown to be nonaddictive, where rabbits are tortured to make cosmetics, and where promising young researchers trade their scholarly ambitions for a generous paycheck? The chronology here is likewise suggestive. The first of these megafacilities was built in the late 1930s. Spurred by the triple intersection of big business, architectural modernism, and war—all of which have a pesky reputation for certain flavors of authoritarianism—over the course of the 1940s the typolog- ical principles of the corporate laboratory were adopted almost univer-