November 23, 2004

Empty Offices

I’ve spent a good deal of time at my place of work this past month: rather more than I would have liked, to be honest. There’s not much one could say in favour of working on weekends, except that there’s a certain something about the atmosphere of a deserted office (or of any normally busy place fallen temporarily silent) that appeals to me. When I was here the Sunday morning before last, almost alone, I took a few pictures of the place…

My office PC's screen, deliberately blurred. A view from my desk.
Ceiling lights, etc. as viewed from my desk. An empty meeting-place.

There is always someone somewhere in the building: it’s a 24 / 7 / 365 operation, and this was one of only a very few occasions when I can recall having seen it so quiet. The first picture, top-left above, is a deliberately-blurred shot of my computer monitor. The next two pictures are both views from the desk where I sit, and the remaining image above is of a meeting-area elsewhere in the building.

Unoccupied offices. Deserted desks.
Silent space. Quiet keyboards.

The four pictures above highlight the split-level, semicircular aspect of the building, which, I would have to admit, is probably the pleasantest place of work I have known in my not especially illustrious career. The first two pictures below are of the office where I first sat when I worked here: some reorganization has left it temporarily empty, seemingly doubly-deserted on a Sunday morning. Lastly, below, are two close-ups of a small bronze sculpture in a window in the building’s reception-area.

A temporarily deskless office, whose former occupants have been reorganised elsewhere. A temporarily deskless office: another view.
Close-up view of a bronze sculpture at my place of work. Even closer-up view of the bronze sculpture.

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Posted by misteraitch at November 23, 2004 03:28 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Welcome back!

Posted by: mentiroso on November 24, 2004 12:05 AM

Hi, at last you're back.

I really wonder where you're working. I work for a world famous swedish company and your shots recall the internal of some places i have seen there.
I would let you see the open-spaces as the italian conceive them, rather hangars than offices.
You're lucky, indeed.
Regards.

Posted by: Tiberio on November 25, 2004 10:38 AM

Hi Giornale,

I am working for the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada and would like your permission to use some of your empty office photos. These photos would be included in a presentation I am preparing and would be for educational or outreach purposes and not for commercial uses.

Please let me know if I have your permission.

Thank you.

Ruth McGarry
Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
613-944-4858
ruth.mcgarry@psepc.gc.ca

Posted by: Ruth McGarry on September 18, 2006 04:44 PM
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