WHEN AMAZON OPENED ITS WAREHOUSE IN THE FORMER COAL-MINING TOWN OF RUGELEY, ENGLAND, RESIDENTS THOUGHT THE COMPANY MIGHT BRING BRIGHTER ECONOMIC PROSPECTS. AS PHOTOGRAPHER BEN ROBERTS HOPES TO SHOW, THAT’S NOT EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED.
Shining blue and bright above a subterranean labyrinth of hollow shafts, a warehouse sits upon the abandoned remains of a coal mine that once defined this working-class English town. It is as bright as the mines are dark, as vast as the shafts are claustrophobic, as clean as they are filthy. This warehouse represents a future of shopping that does to brick-and-mortar retail what it has already done to the coal mine that used to thrive in its place: Bury it without filling the hole it left behind.
To read the original article: 1 | Think Your Office Is Soulless? Check Out This Amazon Fulfillment Center | Co.Design: business + innovation + design
