House Sergeant turns 1! Or: Home is where the momos are
The pandemic has played a cruel trick on our perception of time. While 2020 has sometimes felt like five years rolled into one, it has since slipped through the cracks, been swallowed up, only vaguely accessible in our collective memory. We're left wondering things like: Did I get these jeans last fall, or two years ago? Was " Parasite " released last summer, or in 2019? And: has it really been a year since we moved into this house?
The pandemic has played a cruel trick on our perception of time. While 2020 has sometimes felt like five years rolled into one, it has since slipped through the cracks, been swallowed up, only vaguely accessible in our collective memory. We're left wondering things like: Did I get these jeans last fall, or two years ago? Was " Parasite " released last summer, or in 2019? And: has it really been a year since we moved into this house?
Sure enough, the calendar doesn't lie. More than a year has passed since we packed our corner office near Stauffacher into boxes and dragged it a few streets over to Lagerstrasse 121. The move happened back in July, but we made it official last August. And yes, maybe this first year doesn't quite count, because our house did get a bit lonely during the remote working months. But it's not lonely now. We are finally back again: physically present and definitely settled in the neighborhood. So it's about time we had a little catch-up.
Who's hungry?
It' s probably common knowledge that we Sergeants devise our lunchtime plans as earnestly as you might plan a military offensive. Except that now we enjoy a tactically advantageous position to do it. Every day around noon, somewhere in the house word goes out: Who's hungry yet? What follows is an extremely heated debate. Shall we go for curries from Hiltl or bibimbap from Miss Miu? Can we get momos from Tenz, or did we already have them this week? Is it a day for Italian, Vietnamese or Chinese? If it's cold outside, we like to go to the soup place. When it's raining: mezze from Yalda on the next street. And when the stars align, we blissfully make it to Gelati Tellhof after lunch, where we discuss ice cream varieties with the same intensity. To sum up: the culinary bounty at our new abode can hardly be beaten. But it really hasn't made us any more efficient.
A little party never hurt nobody
Except for lunch breaks, we tend to work quietly and focused at House Sergeant (there's even a blog post about our Calm philosophy). Yet we still enjoy the bustling scene at our new neighbourhood. Being so close to Langstrasse, you are pretty much handed the soundscape with the house keys. From parties and football matches to the waves of cyclists on Critical Mass nights to the occasional protests: if something big is going on in Zurich, it surely won't pass us by. And that's a good thing. After all, as an agency we need to stay on top of things. So it's ever so handy we've got a whole bunch of balconies to look out at the action from. And should the hustle and bustle ever be too disrupting, we've got just as many windows we can shut. To keep the city out and the calmness in.
Mi casa es su casa
When we moved in here last summer, we had a vision for our house: Instead of a big-boned office, it should turn into a creative space. A place to exchange views with like-minded people and to dream up crazy ideas together. Today we can say: Mission accomplished. With the team from Notice Design on the second floor, independent media professionals on the fourth and fifth (and regular visits from clients and friends), we have managed to fill Lagerstrasse 121 with life. We couldn't be happier about that.
House Sergeant may no longer be empty, but it's big enough for more. That's why we have now given our symbolic open door a digital counterpart. On the Work with us page, we now offer our premises up for rent. For anyone who might like to see our exceptional house from the inside - and who might also like to stay here for a while. Be it a couple of hours, a few days or even some weeks. Losing track of time is just more fun together.
