The Boring Part of Bell Labs (2025)

I was looking at that building interior and the (faux) leather seats built into the concrete that surrounds the sunken waiting area, and it got me thinking about perception and how much of our reality is a sort of mind game we engage in.

Back in the day, that space must have felt like a sort of corporate power display with edgy futuristic vibes. The secretaries sat in the middle area and (mostly) men in dark suits and skinny ties were on those seats with standard issue briefcases. Not a t-shirt in sight. This is the sort of imaginal corporate space that was satirized by Tati in his films in late 60s. By 70s, this space was getting dusty and the men are now wearing polyester suits with fat ties. Various shades of brown. Not sure about the vibes or the secretaries. Today it looks like some sort of nafarious institution.

Through it all it remained the same physical reality. I think this is the ultimate essence and meaning of architectural objects: they are ultimately materialized words in the widest sense, in that their reality is substantially created in the mind and merely girded by the physicality of the object.

Uncool or not, working at a place with a confluence of technical problems to solve, sounds wonderful.

Good article! Looks like a great blog too. Subscribed to the RSS feed. Thanks for referencing.

Nostalgic alumni here :)

So that's where the Control game art direction got inspired :).

I love the lore, thanks!