A vacant retail space can accommodate a vital, original and flexible office. It happens in Wembley where Meanwhile Space e The Decorators set-up The Cottrell House.
One of the features of the landscape of Wembley is the transformation connected with the large-scale events, that are held at this famous Wembley Stadium.
“Transformation” was also the main concept of Cottrell House, an enterprise space in set up by Meanwhile Space and initiated by Brent Council to support local start-up businesses and entrepreneurs with affordable workspace.
An anonimous ground floor of a prominent, long term vacant, building was converted in an amazing workplace and coworking by di The Decorators , an interdisciplinary group of practitioners working with space, and Meanwhile Space.
The shell was left unrefined and almost intact, creativity is especially expressed in the layout and the “mechanical” looking furnishings. One shared studio for rent, eight fixed desks for hire and hot-desking space, catering for different needs and budget a small cafè, and a central “theatrical” round table with the profile of the stadium with wheeled desk units, easy to reconfigured and delimited by dark curtains.
Also original, is the way these offices were carried out: The space was built with volunteers from Meanwhile Space’s Coming Soon Club, who gave time to the project in exchange for free membership days at Cottrell House.
An interesting return to barter in the 2.0 era…
Image Credits: Dosfotos
