Co-Working Space Designs

CO-WORKING

SPACE DESIGNS

Shared workspaces, better known as ‘co-working space’, have grown in popularity as an alternative to the traditional office filled with cubicles.

To help designers and architects take advantage of this evolution in workplace environment, Co-Working Space Designs includes 43 examples of excellent co-working spaces along with an introduction detailing how designing for a co-working space differs from traditional offices. This book is a great choice for designers wishing to know more about the latest in office design as well as business owners who want to experiment with their office layout to improve productivity.

Edited by Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui

Cover image: THE WORK PROJECT (photography by The Work Project)

$49.90 [USA] £35.00 [GB]

Edited by Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui

CO-WORKING SPACE DESIGNS

Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui / Bean Buro Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui is a UK ARB and RIBAchartered architect. Between 2003-2013, he worked on a number of award winning projects with prestigious practices in London, while he concurrently was working as a visiting design lecturer at the Bartlett School of Architecture London UCL, The Royal College of Art, Oxford Brookes University, London South Bank University and Ecole Spéciale d’Architecture Paris. He co-founded the architectural design practice Bean Buro in Hong Kong with Lorène Faure in 2013 to continue their development in cross-cultural designs. The practice has since produced a string of successful architecture and interior projects for reputable developers, such as Grosvenor, Nan Fung Group and Sun Hung Kai, as well as commercial companies, such as Uber, Leo Burnett, Warner Music, Kerry Logistics, Bean Buro was nominated for The Prodigy INDE. Awards 2017, garnered three nominations in Archdaily Architecture Awards China 2017, was awarded Silver Winner in the Asia Pacific Interior Design Award 2015, was declared Runner Up in Architizer A+ Awards 2015, and won multiple Gold and Silver awards in the A’ Design Awards in three consecutive years. The studio has a rigorous methodology in design research, using high-quality drawings and models that explore cultural narratives and the humanistic aspects of design. The practice’s works have been featured in Archdaily Awards, Interior Design NYC, ID+C, Design Anthology, ELLE, Perspective, Domus, FRAME and Wallpaper* Magazine. www.beanburo.com

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EMERGENCE OF NEW CO-WORKING DESIGN

By Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui / Bean Buro

Introduction

co-working NOUN The use of an office or other working environment by people who are self-employed or working for different employers, typically so as to share equipment, ideas, and knowledge.

Oxford Dictionaries

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Co-working is no longer a new subject. Most people today refer to co-working as a work style that involves a shared working environment, a phenomenon that we have seen exploding from around the world since over a decade ago. The co-working movement started with freelancers and small startups, all of whom enjoyed the benefits of sharing the same workspace to exchange different skills and social networking. Technology has played a big role in transforming the way people work, with new terms such as the ‘digital nomads’ - workers whom can work anytime and anywhere using their mobile IT devices. The flexibility offered by development in the Generation X and Y-driven digital culture has created an ‘office renaissance’ impacting the way people see the traditional office, which was (and still is for many companies) a grey ‘box’ with rigid workstation cubicles in an open plan, with enclosed formal meeting rooms and private offices for managers and executives in a stressful hierarchical atmosphere. The new workplace is a ‘non-office’, everything that is not the grey box, but rather, it is a fascinating space filled with creativity and new social values of collaboration.

There has been a lot written and discussed about co-working spaces in terms of its commercial values for businesses. However, there has not been a lot written from a non-commercial, emotional, design angle about the end user’s point of view.

It is interesting to note that many co-working operators had once started out as digital nomads themselves or worked a startup in a shared space that eventually grew into a formal business as a co-working space operator. The production of co-working spaces are created and managed by a relatively young generation who believe in technology and a contemporary approach to cater to the lifestyles of the current workforce generation.

Thus, the discussion, as well as much research and writings revolving around co-working spaces, has only existed online, via bloggers and social media, which is a dominant media culture today.

This piece of writing attempts to provide an overview of the emergence of co-working design as represented through our digital media culture, researched trends in workplace designs, and through sharing some of the insights on coworking design gained working at Bean Buro — an architectural and interiors practice that I have co-founded with my partner Lorène Faure, where we have created many innovative workplaces for companies, using a humanistic design methodology driven from the end user’s point of view.

I have split this piece of writing into two parts.

The first part sets out a context covering the brief history and emergence of co-working spaces as well as the current design trends in workplace design that evolve around the sharing economy and collaborative culture. The design discipline around co-working spaces is a constantly growing field, an increasingly important subject to analyse and question, as the emergence of many new coworking space types are expanding the definition of a co-working space typology. Therefore, in second part, I will discuss the architectural design elements and methodology of creating a co-working space, using a design-focused and theoretical approach.

Co-working design is a highly fertile ground for exploring new innovations in architecture and interiors, pushing designers to explore new ways of designing with technological advancements, social organization, and new materials. It is a highly dynamic emerging spatial typology.

These physical co-working spaces create ‘pockets of energies’ popping up across our cities, with an entirely new spatial typology yet to be defined and evolved. As many companies are transforming their workplaces, demanding more agility, they have a huge impact on the way office spaces should be accommodated by the buildings in our cities, one that should be much more integrated with the existing environment.

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The Co-working Culture in the Digital Age

Caption: Event space at The Work Project Hong Kong designed by Bean Buro. Junny Lee, Founder of The Work Project, shared his secrets to boost happiness and productivity in the workplace with human resources professionals during an event (Photo credit: The Work Project)

from home that was cost effective, however, larger companies are now also considering coworking spaces due to their low overhead costs.

Leading commercial real estate firm CBRE in the 2015/2016 Americas Occupier Survey, which provided a consensus view on the strategies and priorities of 226 Americas-based corporate real estate (CRE) organizations, found that more than 40% of respondents are using or considering shared workplaces.7 The developments in the United States are often a good indication of what other cities in the world might follow. The flexible supply sector, encompassing serviced offices and co-working space, is one of the fastest growing commercial real estate segments in the U.S.8 CBRE suggested ‘economic uncertainty’, ‘technology’, ‘community and cities’ are the four main trends that are driving the sustainability of the emerging co-working model right now. The top three challenges for corporate occupiers being labour/skills shortages, cost escalation, and economic uncertainty. While for the labour force, the priorities are connectivity to partners/suppliers, being able to work anywhere at any time, and flexible work setting options (choice of where to work in the workplace).

The Emerging Co-working Space Types We can now clearly see a wide definition of ‘coworking’ with many different types. Co-working spaces are emerging in various shapes and forms across the world and have been very much discussed by bloggers, many of whom are traveling ‘nomads’ themselves. Traveling nomads are people who travel for months or a year to different parts of the world. My sister-in-law included, a professional illustrator from London with a developed client base that she can digitally communicate with, can now carry out work on her mobile devices from anywhere around the world.

It is interesting to follow such traveling nomads because they have some of the best (and latest) insights for co-working spaces. They have firsthand experience regarding many different types of co-working spaces in a number of countries.

Co-working spaces provide a daily working environment that allows one to work while traveling, separate work from home, working efficiently with low overhead costs for better facilities, with great prospects of avoiding loneliness and meeting inspiring like-minded professionals. The ability to network and meeting new people through chance encounters is perhaps one of the most attractive qualities. As recently described in Cowork22 (a blog devoted to writing about co-working spaces from all around the world), the range of coworking space types can include9 the ‘high end’ type, which are usually located in larger cities with professionally designed interior. The ‘balanced’ type, which are the casual types that form the majority of the current market of co-working spaces. And, the ‘minimal bare bones’, which are the smallest types that only offer the basics of internet, furniture and beverages. There are also less common types, such as restaurants and cafés that can double as co-working spaces during the closed hours of the food and beverage service.

Co-working space operators are challenged to think creatively to introduce new types of coworking spaces all the time. Simultaneously, both governmental and private properties investors are appealing to co-working space operators to manage new co-working spaces within mixeduse developments. In many Asian-Pacific cities, there are more and more examples of co-working spaces set up within residential developments, where usually a community club that has amenities, such as multifunctional rooms, a gym, and a pool, also provides a communal space for co-working and networking. Since co-working can strengthen the sense of community, some governments invest in co-working spaces to help

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Caption: Events at The Work Project Hong Kong could include industry sharing, lectures, concerts, wine tasting to trunk shows (Photo credit: The Work Project)

accelerate the cultural and economic development of their city. For example, in Singapore, the local government, in order to support local businesses, is planning new co-working hubs to cater for the next generation of matured companies who were once small tech startups using basic co-working facilities and now are looking for something better.

Companies and businesses are constantly evolving, co-working spaces will continually be appealing because they provide much more flexibility for expansion (or reduction during economic uncertainties) than a leased office space, where rental is fixed for at least a couple of years, with heavy investment on renovation and relocating upon moving out. Such costrelated issues are also perhaps the reason why many companies do not invest in professional designs, which usually results in uncomfortable or nonfunctional workspaces, spaces that lack synergy and excitement, thus creating larger problems of not being able to engage with employees or attract talent.

Office Design Renaissance: Designing the ‘Non-Office’ In order to further understand the complex issues of the driving factors behind workplace designs, some insights into the current workplace design trends are needed. As a co-founder of the architecture and interiors design studio Bean Buro in Hong Kong with my partner Lorène Faure, we recently had the pleasure to meet with Steelcase, a company specializing office furniture for offices, who has compiled extensive research as part of their work in office furniture solutions. We had an inspiring discussion session conducted in

our studio, which painted a better picture of the contexts in office design and confirmed many speculative design ideas that we were working on. According to Steelcase: “Employees around the world are rejecting standard, bland offices and demanding something fundamentally different.

This anti-corporate backlash is loud and clear.

But the solution isn’t as clear. Organizations have added spaces that feel more like home, which are emotionally comfortable, but can become physically uncomfortable and often lack the tools required to get work done. So, what’s the “recipe” for a high-performance space that is informal and inspiring? Why are some spaces always busy, while others remain empty?”10 The word ‘office’ has become unpopular, as it is associated with many of the grey rigid work environments that we still see today. From our own insights at Bean Buro, many companies with traditional designs suffering from disengaged employees, also suffer from the following problems: 1. Employees are restricted in a rigid office space that does not support the range of activities that they carry out, such as sufficient space for informal collaborations. Formal meeting rooms are difficult to book and underutilized. Many employees feel they do not have a place to go for private phone calls either.

2. Low utilization of space and facilities. On average, meeting rooms are only used around 30% of the time (yet most employees complain they cannot book a meeting room), fixed workstations are used at around 70% of the time (as many employees do not carry out all their activities at their workstations).

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The Co-working Culture in the Digital Age

3. Fixed-lease commitment in an office space creates difficulties in workforce expansion or reduction in workforce, at times of economic uncertainty. This means employees are stuck in a space that is either too dense or has too many empty workstations that are not utilized.

Hence our practice focuses in providing ways to create various work settings to the employee to support their range of work activities, such as offering areas for social interactions in an informal setting, in addition to the formal workstations and meeting rooms. Power sockets should be easily within reach to allow ad-hoc meetings or work that involves mobile devices such as laptops. Rather than ‘offices,’ we call these locations ‘creative workplaces’ — everything that a traditional office is not.

The non-office approach priorities wellbeing and comfort, both physically and mentally, allowing employees to have healthy postures, bringing the outside in, using good materials, placing meaningful artifacts and accessories to encourage innovation and playful thinking. Generous spaces should be provided so that people feel comfortable to collaborate. Boundaries and thresholds should be created to define different spaces using screens, walls, or plants.

The way people work is constantly changing.

As the world is increasingly interconnected, businesses relationships are increasingly networked, which require fast and collaborative interactions and decision making. The ease and speed to collaborate has become of utmost importance, driven by advances in technology.

Moving in to or Borrowing Concepts from Coworking Spaces Due to the above problems, we are beginning to see two trends appearing: companies considering moving all or part of their workforce into a coworking space and companies attempting to adopt concepts from co-working spaces into their own workplace.

In the first trend, where companies would consider moving into a co-working space, although the membership costs per desk may sound high at first, the added benefits (such as flexibility to adjust workforce, workspace supporting range of work activities, and networking opportunities) far outweigh the struggles of being stuck in a fixedleased office space. The co-working concept inherently carries the DNA and essence of ABW (Activity-Based Working), which means employees can choose from a range of work settings based on their activities. Ranging from formal meeting

rooms and open-plan workstations, employees can choose from many ‘in-between’ work settings, such as collaboration huddle spaces for informal meetings, phone booths for private phone calls, focus booths for high-focus work, and hotdesking. Other work settings can also be created in café areas incorporating multifunctional activities, such as yoga and other events for the community.

In the second trend, where companies borrow coworking concepts, there are some challenges to consider. One of the fundamental concerns is the concern of lack of a company image or identity Prior to the ‘office renaissance,’ most established companies would avoid moving their employees into a serviced office, due to the inability to create a strong company identity and nurture good company culture in such an office space.

However, this is changing. Many larger companies are increasingly using co-working space providers to accommodate the fluctuating percentage of their workforce and some companies are even moving entire teams into a co-working space as a ‘think tank’ to develop, incubate, and carry out creative work to eventually bring back to the company. These companies can experiment with ABW and immediately see its positive effects on the company culture and identity.

From our own insights at Bean Buro, some of our high-end clients would like to deploy up to 90% of their workplaces in flexible co-working spaces, creating a high sharing ratio to improve utilization of work points (for example, 10 employees sharing 7 workstations). However, the change in management (or termed as Change Management) often experiences resistance from employees whom are used to working in traditional offices for many years, usually concerned about the implications of losing their fixed personal workstations and a sense of belonging with the work place. Hence, it is incredibly important for our practice to create designs that are not forced upon the employees, but through an engagement process of surveying existing challenges, listening to their day-to-day needs, inspiring them with a range of positive ‘gains’ that could be available to them in the new workplace, encouraging their input on the design process, and finally define the most ideal workplace design for the employees. Every company is unique and has different needs and varying willingness to explore new workplace concepts.

It is clear to us that the design process itself should be as humanistic as possible in order to tap in to the complex emotions of the users. We achieve this through the methodology and philosophy of our practice, one that creates, illustrates, and interprets narratives as part of the design process to bring users towards a common goal.

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Part 2: Creative Narratives for Humanistic Engagement Creating an Engaging Environment: a Place for Exchange

smell, and acoustics. We call these non-physical elements “immaterials.” Humanistic stories through arts and poetics are also crucial in connecting people together as a community.

According to Steelcase’s study, disengaged workers make up 37 percent of the global workforce, with some countries much higher than others. Thus, increasing employee engagement via workplace design is an extremely important issue.

To quote the study, “As competition becomes more global and intense, organizations need their employees to be more innovative, productive and resilient. In short, business leaders need a more highly engaged workforce. The most engaged employees are positive and enthusiastic, creating new ideas, building deeper customer relationships and generating more profits.”11 A space that allows one to walk stimulates the brain, creating neural connections in different ways. Having exposure to nature or greenery also creates a much better atmosphere for the workplace.

Biophilia & Wellbeing

Our practice Bean Buro has been at the forefront of creating innovative workplace designs. It is a strand of our work that involves rigorous research in design techniques, into the minds of the end users, the operators of a co-working space, and the client organization of companies. From a design point of view, a co-working space is a transient ‘sponge-like’ area that is constantly shaped by the people and events that happen inside it. It is everything that is the opposite of the rigid contained box that is the traditional office space. Co-working space is a space of exchange. Its boundaries are thresholds that encourage interactions between the inside and outside as well as interconnected interactions between different people.

This part of the writing focuses on architectural design narratives, delving into the design techniques of dealing with the challenges of a co-working space with a ‘non-office’ approach in building spaces for better engagement. A coworking space is designed around the wellbeing for the users, with a closer relationship with nature or at least bringing external natural elements in. A co-working space is created not only by traditional physical materials of stone, wood and glass, but it is also created by sensory materials such as light,

The term biophilic design, an approach to create a better relationship with nature or natural sources for improved wellbeing, is nothing new for designers.

However, it is still a relatively new term amongst our clients and workplace providers. There has also been increasing popularity for buildings and interior design projects to achieve the WELL Building Standard (a performance-based system for measuring, certifying, and monitoring features of the built environment impacting human health and wellbeing, such as air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind12), which started in the US and now gaining awareness in Asia.

Biophilia reduces stress and promotes renewal at work. People can concentrate better when seeing nature. Views of natural elements such as trees, water or countryside, strongly promote wellbeing.

As summarized in Steelcase’s report: “As modern work is evolving to require more creativity and connection, designers are turning to biophilia, the principle that human beings have an innate desire to connect and bond with nature, to help workers thrive. The elements of biophilic design have been found to be building blocks of emotional cognitive and physical wellbeing, including productivity, happiness, stress reduction, learning, and healing.

One study of workers in Europe (Human Spaces Global Report by Interface) reports levels of wellbeing and productivity increase by 13 percent in environments containing natural elements.”13 It is important to engage multiple senses through layers of colors, patterns, forms, materials and textures for a more engaging and inspiring experience. This can be termed as a ‘multi-sensory experience’, encouraging people to feel in touch with the environment as well as to explore, adapt, and be creative. Bean Buro has recently completed one of the first double-accredited (LEED and WELL) projects in Hong Kong, which went through a rigorous design process controlling natural and artificial lighting, air quality, water accessibility, acoustic comforts, all using environmentally

80 Rustic & Industrial

TSH COLLAB

Location Amsterdam, The Netherlands Area 12,378 square feet (1150 square meters) Completion 2017 Design Ninetynine Photography Ewout Huibers

Located in Amsterdam, TSH Collab hosts flexible workspaces, dedicated desks, closed offices, a kitchen, meeting spaces, and an auditorium called the Het Parool Theater with 150 seats. TSH Collab is a fully integrated co-living and co-working world that is a professional space for freelancers, startups, and local game-changers.

The designers enhanced the different personalities of the functional spaces by introducing two additional floor levels. Facilitated by the existing structure of the building, the floor level of the area along the facade was lowered by 50 centimeters.

This area functions as a dedicated desk area where people can rent workspaces in the bespoke workstations. Personal items can be stored in lockers and on shelving along the long sides of this area. This area is also marked by a field of 60 suspended LED lightbulbs. Two blue-green pavilions are located at the short sides of this lowered area. Each pavilion consists of two closed offices for six people and a mezzanine level on top with workspace for another 12 people. A staircase along the facade brings people up to a quieter working area with blue-green rubber flooring and matching balustrade walls.

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01 Lowered desk area surrounded by double-height windows

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The hub of THS Collab is the welcome area as it hosts a small F&B outlet, reception desk, waiting area, access to the meeting rooms, toilets, and the auditorium. A floor-to-ceiling glass partition separates this lively area from the working areas.

Members and guests can purchase coffee, tea, fresh juices, or a small lunch at the midnight blue bar counter. Aligned to the bar, the reception desk made

from copper-stained underlayment folds around a coral way-finding column. Functional storage is provided by dark blue cubby shelving, while the mesh itself can be used for styling attributes, plants and newspapers. Soft seating elements float in this area and a turquoise upholstered wall niche offers additional seating while waiting for your meeting or taking a break during an event.

82 Rustic & Industrial 02 Welcome area with the coffee bar and reception 03 Flex - area available for small events 04 Auditorium 05 Auditorium with seating retracted 06 One of five unique meeting rooms 07 Long corridor with artificial roof light

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Section showing (FLR) the meeting rooms with artificial glass roof, the closed offices and the double height pavilion

Section showing the two pavilions and the dedicated desks area

Section showing the kitchen, nooks, and closed offices

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Floor plan

08 Welcome area with coffee bar and reception

10 Booths for quick meetings

09 Bed talks area

11 Member’s kitchen

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Title:

Co-working Space Designs

Author:

Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui (ed.)

ISBN:

9781864707977

Production manager | Group art director: Nicole Boehringer Senior editor:

Gina Tsarouhas

Assisting editor:

Benjamin Sepsenwol

Printed by Toppan Leefung Packaging & Printing, in Hong Kong/China

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The information and illustrations in this publication have been prepared and supplied by Kenny Kinugasa-Tsui and the contributors.

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