CEO’s on the Ground and Interns in the Penthouse

 Zaera says in The Politics of the Envelope A Political Critique of Materialism that, “The question now is not whether certain architecture is aligned to the right, to the left or to a certain political party – as in earlier embodiments of architectural politics – but rather what architectural strategies may trigger effects on the distribution of power.” I have never really thought about how architecture can affect the distribution of power in politics until now. We always design with hierarchy in mind when talking about relationships in plan and section, however looking at the envelope with this hierarchy in mind could essentially flip the script. For example, offices with windows tend to be reserved for those in positions of power where ones with solid walls are for the lower level positions. The offices with windows also tend to be higher up in the building, also reflecting the power level of that office’s occupant. If we made the spaces lower on the ground more transparent and higher up solid, how does that redistribute power? Would those in higher positions still be higher in the building, or would they move down to a lower level?