Are Disused Offices the New Third Spaces?

London still has around 9% of unoccupied office space post-pandemic, an increase from the pre-pandemic rate of around 4%. With hybrid and remote models now a piece of furniture in modern work, the idea of what an office can practically be used for is up for grabs.

At the weekend, my friends at Baile ljó (a translation of "dance dance" in Spanish and Yoruba) hosted their EP launch at FLEET Studios (also home to Knight Club).

They are a collective of DJs and musicians who fuse the sounds of Nigeria and Colombia into a big swirling pot of cascading tempos via afrobeats, reggaeton, dembow, amapiano and baile funk. Fleet Studios is a newly developed creative space on Fleet Street made from disused office space, providing workspace, rec space and one-off event/exhibition spaces on rolling contracts for creatives.

Creative communities and abandoned spaces are a story as old as time. You find and inhabit the spaces you can afford. But - a highly affordable, refitted office space on the storied Fleet Street as a hub to express a new, developing sound is a major upgrade from, say, a janky, dampy basement in the deep of Mile End.

These disused offices present an opportunity to not just foster communities, but for these communities/creatives to significantly upgrade their outputs at scale. They can access all the benefits of being around the amenities that office workers would want. Positioned next to major transport links across Tube, Rail, buses, Limes-the potential for cross-pollination is high, and it doesn't limit people to the polity of their neighbourhoods.

Offices as a creative backdrop are interesting when you think about an office at its definitive, traditional "best"— it's a mini-fiefdom (shudders in Lumon Industries). But this context, again, presents an opportunity for creative communities to create mini-fiefs of their own.

Design’s Lost Generation