Absolute Leisure: The World of Fun

The Why Factory makes space for free time. With its flexible working hours, cheap flights to every far-off corner of the planet and the possibility of downloading all the films, TV programmes or songs ever produced, our world has become a society of leisure devotees and connoisseurs of pleasure. We can have every imaginable exotic dish delivered, we can purchase every-thing we have ever dreamed of possessing, we can organize the tailor-made holiday of our dreams – pleasure is on tap for us 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. But who is paying attention to the reserves while we are amusing ourselves? Is enough being produced to meet the demands of ever-increasing consumption?

In this publication The Why Factory demonstrates the size of the footprint that our leisure activities have left behind on our landscapes, cities and architecture. But that is not all: the architectural and urban projects presented here problematize the leisure activities of today and outline the possibility of a new solution. The volume includes articles by Winy Maas, Felix Madrazo and Alexander Sverdlov. It also provides a platform for minds critical of modern-day recreation as well as for the professionals in this line of business, those who keep the leisure machine running.