Confirmation! We've only furnished the lounge and plan to grow into the other spaces. There has to be an absolute good reason for someone to have a private office (i.e. government regulations, nature of the business) but we will still encourage them to blend when possible. We give a full tour of the 13,000sf vision and never apologize for the empty space. It's amazing how people "get it."
TH On Tuesday, August 14, 2012 1:32:40 PM UTC-5, Craig Baute - Creative Density Coworking wrote: > > When I first started Creative Density in Denver I rented out a 3500 sf > space, but only really wanted 2000 sf after a hard lesson learned when > helping out a space in Toronto that had 7500 sf and no members. In Toronto > people would join but spread way out because they could. New members > naturally wanted to give everyone enough space so they rarely naturally had > a conversation or get to know each other unless I, as a community manager > played an active role, which I did. It reminded that space design needed to > play a more active role in creating the culture I envisioned. > > Advice (for what's it worth): Force Density > This lesson reminded me about how Daniel Pink and Richard Florida > described how the close proximity of people in cities spurred innovation > and conversations. After all, this is what coworking is trying to do on a > micro level (hence the name Creative Density). I was inspired by this idea > and would use the 3500 sf I signed a lease for in a different way. > > First, when the space opened I only made around 1500 sf. available to the > members by furnishing a limited segment of the space and closing doors. > This allowed the space to have different rooms for different work styles > (quiet room, lounge, energy, and open floor desks) but people were forced > to be close enough to each other that they would they would have > conversations more frequently and get to know each other. This had > a dramatic positive effect on creating community compared to my experience > in Toronto. As the membership grew I slowly opened the doors up, furnished > rooms, and included them in the tour. At 40 members, we still have a large > 600ish sf room that is not being used very regularly so I have plenty of > room to grow into. > > Second, I lived in 3 of the rooms taking up a quater of the building for > the first 11 months of operations. This is more of me being lean since the > place was zoned accordingly and knowing Creative Density didn't need 3500 > sf at launch. It worked out well but I couldn't allow Creative Density to > be a 24/7 space. > > Overall, it's okay as a new space owner to not furnish and open the entire > space for use at first, and can actually damage your culture that you are > trying to create. Don't be afraid to block some spots off and limit your > space to encourage conversations and community. > > Craig > Creative Density > Denver > > > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/coworking/-/sSUZ5MS2Ap8J. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
