A bus is a surface you do not have to look for, because it is already standing on wheels. At Shiftmove that became the solution: the work was done outdoors on the long side, and with that the question of location was settled before the first stroke of paint.
The starting point
A team event without a particular occasion has the weakest backing internally. There is no anniversary to justify a budget and no guest who has to be entertained. Two questions remain: whether the day gives the group something, and whether it gets through organisationally at all.
That is exactly how this date went. Shiftmove did it as Paint the Bus, with no occasion behind it. The format has a quirk that defuses the second half of the question: the surface does not belong to the location. It stands on wheels, and the location is wherever it stands.
What happened on the side of the bus
The work was done on the long side, standing, right at the bodywork. In the photos people stand side by side at the same surface, some spraying directly onto the side of the vehicle.
The painting runs across the full side. At the bottom large blue block shapes with a black outline, above them a band of black arcs, in between orange, pink and violet. The hubcaps are painted too, yellow with a pink smiley. In one of the photos someone holds up a framed sheet, blue ground with a black swoosh on it, in the same colours as the side of the bus.
Why the surface was not a question of space here
The bus stood outdoors, on a paved area between trees. No interior was occupied, nobody had to release a wall. Among the Berlin references this is the case with the least attached to the building.
No commitment for other dates follows from that. What follows is a different order of questions: with a wall project the approval for one particular wall comes first, with this format the parking spot does. What is needed is a place where something large may stand for a while, and a suitable vehicle. We clear both in advance in conversation; it does not sort itself out.
What was standing there at the end
At the end a complete side of the vehicle was painted, from the block shapes to the hubcaps. In the final photo the group spreads out along the full length of the bus in front of it, with trees and a brick house in the background.
A day without an occasion has to justify itself by the evening. Here the side of the vehicle takes care of that: it is too big to overlook, and nobody has to explain what happened that day. Anyone planning something like this checks the parking spot first, not the programme.
Project facts
- City
- Berlin
- Format
- Paint the Bus
- Occasion
- team event, no particular occasion
- Surface
- the long side of a bus
- Technique
- spray paint
- Setting
- outdoors
Frequently asked questions about this project
Does a Paint the Bus need a room or a hall?
Not at Shiftmove. The bus stood outdoors on a paved area, the work was done on the long side, and for that neither an interior had to be occupied nor a wall released.
For the internal approval that is the real difference. A wall project depends on permission for that specific wall, and anyone sitting in rented premises often does not get it at all. A vehicle brings its surface with it, so the question shifts from the building to the parking spot. Whether that works for your date we clear beforehand on two points: whether a suitable vehicle is available and where it may stand during the session. Both are quickly answered in conversation, but they are no good as a silent assumption, because the whole schedule depends on them. Then there is the weather, because the work is done outdoors. On this day everyone wore jackets, and the spraying went on without a break all the same.
How does a group spread out along a single vehicle?
Lengthwise. The side of the bus is one continuous surface, everyone works on their section standing up, and nobody waits for a spot to open up further along.
For the question of size, the reference is therefore not the room but the length of the vehicle's side. That is a figure you can measure yourselves as soon as it is clear which vehicle it will be, and it says more than any number of square metres. In the photos of this date people stand side by side at the same side, in the final photo the group spreads out along the full length of the bus. What you best send us with an enquiry are two figures: the group size and whether everyone should take part at the same time or one after the other. From that follows how many sections we divide and how much material goes to the bus. Without these two figures the division cannot seriously be anticipated.
- Staggered by group size: EUR 129 / 109 / 99 / 89 / 79 per person net, plus 19% VAT
- from 9 people, for companies
