_Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2016
“It was another day at the office for Albert Smith. His day had started at 6:30 am when he woke up in his small flat in Amsterdam, which he shared with 3 people. It was small, dirty and overpriced, but the endless nights looking for a place in expat websites, Facebook and agencies, due to housing shortage, led him to take this room in the outskirts of the city. Albert had been working for a year as a customer service agent for a new services company located in the second floor of the Haka building in Rotterdam. He didn’t like commuting every day, but once he got into the building he enjoyed working in a clean environment, having a proper heating system and most of all he fancied his Herman Miller desk which he kept clean and tidy. Albert was so focused on finishing an email that he didn’t realize it was time to leave. When he was done, it was already 7:30 pm. He looked around the place. It was closed, empty and quiet at night. After 5 pm, the space became unused, vacant. The panorama of almost 80 empty desks made him think that the space could have another use in the night. He asked himself “Why couldn’t I make use of it?”
After-hours aims to make a comment on the actual architectural, social and economic situation of the workplace in relation to other aspects such as urban policies, commuting and housing. Using the Haka building as a scenario of the typical office of the present, the project presents an opportunity to reflect on alternative uses of space.
Read the whole story here:
https://issuu.com/alecalderon2/docs/after-hours