Aberrant's styrofoam ceiling installation celebrates wasting time at work
Visitors to an office-themed installation by Aberrant Architecture were invited to take a spin on an office chair below a ceiling suspended just 1.5 metres above the ground (+ movie).
![Despite Efficiency at the Herbert Read Gallery by Aberrant Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Despite-Efficiency-Herbert-Read-Gallery-by-Aberrant-Architecture-_dezeen_468_6.jpg)
Aberrant Architecture worked with students from Canterbury School of Architecture to design an installation named Despite Efficiency for the university's Herbert Read Gallery.
Conceived as a "celebration of time wasting at work", the installation mimicked an open-plan office with an unnaturally low ceiling of styrofoam tiles held in a metal grid, supported by thin white columns.
![Despite Efficiency at the Herbert Read Gallery by Aberrant Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Despite-Efficiency-Herbert-Read-Gallery-by-Aberrant-Architecture-_dezeen_468_7.jpg)
Anglepoise-style desk lamps were suspended around the edges to light the space, while a series of openings allowed visitors to pop their heads above parapet level to see a range of multi-media installations and "experience the naturally lit world above the suspended ceiling."
![Despite Efficiency at the Herbert Read Gallery by Aberrant Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Despite-Efficiency-Herbert-Read-Gallery-by-Aberrant-Architecture-_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
"In a slight twist on the norm, this staple of offices the world over is positioned at shoulder height," said the architects.
"Hanging 1.5-metres off the floor, visitors to the exhibition are invited to take an information sheet from a filing cabinet, sit on an office chair and propel themselves underneath the ceiling into an artificially lit world."
![Despite Efficiency at the Herbert Read Gallery by Aberrant Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Despite-Efficiency-Herbert-Read-Gallery-by-Aberrant-Architecture-_dezeen_468_2.jpg)
Video projections and laser-cut dioramas depicting office scenes installed above the styrofoam tiles offer clock-watchers something to fill their time.
![Despite Efficiency at the Herbert Read Gallery by Aberrant Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Despite-Efficiency-Herbert-Read-Gallery-by-Aberrant-Architecture-_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
Binoculars chained to the openings provide close-up views of details on each of the laser-cut panels, which were made by participating students to explore the history of office design.
![Despite Efficiency at the Herbert Read Gallery by Aberrant Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Despite-Efficiency-Herbert-Read-Gallery-by-Aberrant-Architecture-_dezeen_468_5.jpg)
"The exhibition, as well as the design concept, looks at the practical consequences and critical value of inefficiency in the context of work," said the architects, who have designed a number of non-permanent structures, including a roaming market stall and travelling theatre.
![Despite Efficiency at the Herbert Read Gallery by Aberrant Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Despite-Efficiency-Herbert-Read-Gallery-by-Aberrant-Architecture-_dezeen_468_8.jpg)
"Inefficiency can be understood as an effort without reward; as the negative result of a system designed to produce a benefit, to be profitable," they said.
![Despite Efficiency at the Herbert Read Gallery by Aberrant Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Despite-Efficiency-Herbert-Read-Gallery-by-Aberrant-Architecture-_dezeen_468_9.jpg)
Over its three-week duration in December 2014, the exhibition hosted a series of live performances and video installations presented by a programme of international artists "interested in situations and models of unprofitable, futile or ineffective work."
![Despite Efficiency at the Herbert Read Gallery by Aberrant Architecture](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/01/Despite-Efficiency-Herbert-Read-Gallery-by-Aberrant-Architecture-_dezeen_468_10.jpg)
Photography is by Simon Kennedy.