Intervention, Crowne Plaza hotel 2:00 am - 3:00 am

As part of the intervention, I decided to choose Crowne plaza hotel, Royal Victoria as my designated place. I choose between 2:00 am till 2:45 am.

Road were empty, calling cabs parked right outside, few had headlights on. Active men inside the car waiting to go off on jobs. As soon as I entered, I sat on the couch, a bit away from the reception. Receptionist approached me “May I help you? “ I replied “No thank you”. She left. I watched and noted few things that I heard, saw.

·      A guy on the phone chatting to clients- calling cab service.

·      Old Air con machine, I could hear the sound of the air

·      One cleaner, very active helping a sick hotel guest, shared same language (Spanish)

·      The cleaner then was off to clean the bar area carpet. Also cleaned the front area of the entrance.

·      Receptionist helping 3-4 guests

·      Then helped the sick patient by calling ambulance

·      Security guards casually walking, bit like kids would swing themselves and walk in a park, also making noises with his mouth

·      Elevator open and closes, was used 2 times.

·      All lights were on, felt like day inside.

·      No dirt on the floor

·      Footsteps being heard (shoe)

·      Receptionist chatting with each other

·      Frequently, people in charge, giving me looks (when they are walking around)

·      Pizza delivery man comes

·      Taxi drivers, walking in to talk to the person in charge, sitting below the stairs in a cornered table to talk. (Happy mood, well dressed)

·      Ambulance arrived, to help the sick person.

The ambience of the place couldn’t be said it was 2:00 am. It smelled also very nice, One Cleaner, preparing for next day, was very active.

On that note….

The globalisation of business, meanwhile, is breaking down traditional notions of office hours. Serious business people are at their desks at the crack of dawn to talk to partners in the Far East and are still there come nightfall to talk to America.

According to a report published last week by the Future Foundation, a commercial think-tank, most Britons approve of this trend. It found that 80 per cent think companies should provide telephone services outside normal hours. More than one-third said they wanted to shop late in department stores, while 58 per cent wanted pharmacies to open earlier and close later.

There is also strong demand, according to the report, for doctors and dentists to be available at night and at weekends, and for schools to open beyond standard hours.

After the observing and productive NIGHT, I went back with couple of poster, photographed with images from early morning with little captions on them. I tried to put them in places , but I was asked to put them down. It was not such a busy hotel. I waited and left it on the shelf where there were flyers for tourists. I sat and observed, no one saw them. I stuck them in the bathroom, yet no response.

*I had taken photos of people passing by, but I accidently deleted them before saving it.

However More than what people thought or cared, it opened my eye on releasing that 24 hour society is big part of us, more than before it’s more meaningful now. This project made me realize that it’s not only what we see during the day, it’s easy to stay up during the day, hardest jobs are done at night, when you have a atmosphere that everyone is sleeping or not many people/customers/clients/guests to deal with. Its tough job. During the day the place looks very different, even though it’s the same place, atmosphere, same lighting etc. I guess the people enhance the atmosphere.

I have created this poster below, to show during the day what goes around at night.