How the needs of monks and empire builders helped mold the modern-day office

The coronavirus pandemic has forced most people to create an office space of their own—whether by devoting a room in our homes for work, sitting socially distanced in common areas or just creating a “Zoom worthy” corner in a bedroom. As a scholar who researches and designs learning and workspaces, I’m aware how the modern-day workplace was shaped over several centuries. Beginning around the fifth century, monks that lived and worked in monasteries preserved ancient culture by copying and translating religious books, including the Bible, which was translated from Hebrew and Greek to Latin.