I've been exchanging ideas with
Jamie King on co-working spaces. By background, Jamie is the entrepreneurial filmmaker behind
Steal this Film. He takes pride in his relationship with a number of entrepreneurs, technologists, and progressive thinkers the world over.
We've both glossed over the work
The Great Good Place by
Ray Oldenburg, who coined the term "third place." Third Place (taken from
wikipedia) is:
"a concept of community building to refer to social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace. In his influential book argues that third places are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement, and establishing feelings of a sense of place. Oldenburg calls one's first place the home and those that one lives with. The second place is the workplace — where people may actually spend most of their time. Third places, then, are 'anchors' of community life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction. All societies already have informal meeting places; what is new in modern times is the intentionality of seeking them out as vital to current societal needs. Oldenburg suggests these hallmarks of a true 'third place': free or inexpensive; food and drink, while not essential, are important; highly accessible: proximate for many (walking distance); involve regulars – those who habitually congregate there; welcoming and comfortable; both new friends and old should be found there."
Jamie's concept called "[open/space]" provides a situated architecture for co-operation, exhange and hire for urban information workers. Information workers feel isolated when based in their home and yet dislike office space. Public wifi has allowed retail chains like Starbucks to take advantage of this, providing a minimal infrastructure of (limited) connectivity, electricity (where
available), refereshments, and facilities.
However, such spaces are not designed for purpose. For Ray Oldernburg, the Third Place is a "distinctive informal gathering place." It should:
- make one feel at home
- nourish relationships and a diversity of human contact
- help create a sense of community
- provide numerous opportunities for serendipity
- promote companionship
- allow people to relax and unwind
[open/space] takes cues from these principles, while adding some its
own. It is intended to:
- provide opportunities for co-operation and exchange
- facilitate and potentiate people's live-work practice
- foment ideas and promote original thinking
INFORMATION/ARCHITECTURE
[open/space] is a large, bright, warehouse-like environment in which the traditional 'coffee lounge' architecture is secondary to a designed soft-work, research and creative environment. Thus, open/space combines:
- Group work stations with transparent but effective sound-baffles, allowing groups to work together without creating or being affected by too much noise pollution
- Open group tables for casual work and less intensive production
- A limited number of individual desks, encouraging mingling and interaction
- A limited number of fixed terminals (this is not a Web Cafe)
- Lounge sofas
- Internal low-power FM & streaming radio station offering users the chance to cue their own radio
- Fast connectivity and, importantly, a robust local network with free file storage
- A coffee bar providing *good* espresso etc., and other liquid refreshments, without alcohol until a watershed point
- Presentation rooms with projectors, audio facilities, etc.
- Some document production facilities including a printer/scanner/copier/fax
[open/space] also features a bespoke social networking system. People using Web services in the space are kicked to a page asking them to share with others their current work, skills and so on. If they wish to share, the information is shared via a web application which offers interest-based filtering, scheduling, messaging and so forth.
In the space itself, this web-application outputs to a visual display which can show people at a glance information such as:
- What the prevalent curent strands of interest are
- Who is working on what, with whom
- Who wants to work, co-operatively or for pay
- Who has open projects or projects seek collaborators
- What ideas are open for discussion
- Scheduled open meetings
- Scheduled outings, parties, etc.
While this board cannot be seen from outside, [open/space] combines an online and situated approach to networking people. A web-based service allows people to import (if they want) biographical data from other dedicated databases, and to add their information fresh if neccessary. This can be used from inside or outside [open/space] to register interests, skills, and the basis on which a person will work or co-operate with others. In addition 'dates' can be made for meetings, or days scheduled on which a person will be present in the space, avaialable for meetings and so on.
BUSINESS MODEL
open/space can sustain itself through a combination of retail (coffee, refreshments, stationery, consumables) services (print production, presentation support, private hire of rooms) and premium charges (e.g., a guaranteed workspace, flat-rate coffee). Sponsorships are also available with the right community built in the space.
POTENTIAL ISSUES
Jamie believes it's critical to delberate how best to attract the right kind of activity and the right kind of people, perhaps through positive reinforcement of their work in the space. Without such provisions, there is a chance that [open/space] will be perceived merely as an ordinary cafe with above average amenities.
Jamie, thanks for sharing [open/space] with the rest of us. It's remarkably similar to the project my partners have underway, a testament how sorely a true Third Place is needed in this knowledge economy.
. That includes watching via game consoles, Web TV gadgets like the Roku box and Apple TV, and hooking up a laptop to the TV. Increasingly, it will include TVs with Web video built-in. Within five years, 'the number of U.S. broadband households viewing Web-to-TV content will grow to 24 million,' In-Stat estimates."
