Milan 08: Dutch designer Jack Brandsma will exhibit his SpareSpace temporary office units in Milan next month.

The project consists of three different crates (above) that transform into a desk space, table and bar (below) that can be rapidly deployed in vacant buildings.

When the host building is let or sold, the mobile office facilities can be packed and removed within 24 hours and moved to a new location.

Brandsma hopes SpareSpace will inspire creatives and make otherwise empty builings more attractive to prospective buyers or tenants.

Four work units, the table and bar will be on display in a building under construction in Via Ventura 6, Milan, during the furniture fair. The installation will be used by local people in need of a work space at that time.

Above and below: a current SpareSpace installation in use in Groningen, the Netherlands.

Photographs are by Sabina Theijs.

The following information is from Brandsma:

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FROM EMPTY BUILDING TO CREATIVE HIVE

SpareSpace transforms empty shop- and office buildings into mobile offices.SpareSpace offers beginning entrepreneurs in creative industries affordable and representative offices in an inspiring environment. As soon as the empty space is put up to let or for sale, the entrepreneurs will move to a new building.

Using specially designed crate furniture by designer Jack Brandsma, SpareSpace gives substance to the term Mobile Office. Work spaces can be folded and transported in no time, as can the bar, the meeting table and the foldable wall (in progress).

SpareSpace expects the temporary reshaping/redecoration of the buildings to give a new impulse to creative industry. Additionally, SpareSpace expects a positive outcome for real estate owners since unused space is given a representative goal.

USERS OF SPARESPACE

SpareSpace uses a broad definition of ‘creatives’. They can be copywriters, designers or artists. SpareSpace offers young talent space for several months, in exchange for a small fee.

SUPPLIERS OF SPARESPACE

The real estate sector offers space, temporarily, until a new tenant or buyer has been found. Empty and without tenants, a space has no charisma. SpareSpace puts the soul back into a building. Possible buyers or tenants are offered a glimpse of the possibilities of the building, which is fully in the spotlights. Once let or sold, SpareSpace is gone within twenty-four hours. On top of this, SpareSpace offers companies the opportunity to affiliate themselves with creativity and innovation.

TEAM/TASKGROUP SPARESPACE

The current team/task-group SpareSpace consists of 5 persons of different backgrounds: Annelie Uittenbogaard, Marc Petstra, Sipke Veenstra, Gina Hoving and Jack Brandsma. The ‘SpareSpace Foundation’ is currently being erected to enable utilisation. At the moment SpareSpace focuses on locations in the Netherlands, starting at the city of Groningen.

SpareSpace is supported by Dutch Architecture Fund Rotterdam NL, City of Groningen NL, Province of Groningen NL and Doen Foundation Amsterdam NL. SpareSpace is embraced by Bijzondere Locaties Groningen NL en Platform GRAS Groningen NL. SpareSpace is a project of Nieuwe Garde.