Office Affair

Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Crossposted from Haaretz
How can a lone worker express his individuality in a corporate firm employing hundreds of people? Will a colorful coffee cup, some family photos or a distinctive fashion sense suffice to attracts the attention of colleagues and the secretaries?
At the renovated Neopharm building in Petah Tikva, architects Yael Benaroya and Yoram Shilo have given an original means of expression to employees. They have installed a sophisticated facade of moving louvers on the building and have given each employee the possibility of controlling the degree to which the window slats open and the amount of their exposure inside the office.
Seen from the street, the building is a mosaic of opened and half-closed windows — each of them representing the personal climatic preferences of an individual employee. The moving and slanting of the louvers is accomplished through a computer program installed in the workers’ computers and mobile phones.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
