Hot Desk, Co-work Or Go It Alone?

How to pick the right business space of your needs...

Steve Jobs’ vision for the perfect workspace was one that would blur the line between the inside and outside, and include modular spaces, known as pods, for work or collaboration. Construction toward this vision started in 2013 and was nearing completion as we went to print with this issue. Interestingly Apple Park, nicknamed the Spaceship for its ring-shaped building, which will eventually accommodate 12 000 people on an average working day, has only one restaurant. Why? To force people to bump into each other and encourage conversation and collaboration. Quoted in a recent article in Wired Magazine, Jony Ive, Apple’s chief design officer said: “Connecting extraordinarily advanced buildings with rolling parkland creates a wonderfully OPEN environment for people to create, collaborate and work together.” Construction cost a reported US$5-billion.

Jobs had a clear picture of what he believed it takes to create innovation of the type that Apple has become famous for. And, many of the emerging workspaces designed for entrepreneurs today seem to subscribe to something similar albeit on a far smaller scale. These next-generation shared workspaces are moving beyond simply providing a large room with desks and chairs in it, and are now evolving into a more deliberate manipulation of the environment and moveable elements to better provoke spontaneous and natural collaboration, innovation and networking.

As Paul Keursten, co-founder of OPEN, which runs OPEN Maboneng in Joburg and Workshop17 at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town says: “Working and living are no longer separate. We don’t only want to live during holidays and after retirement, we want to live now, while working. We want to work in an environment that is pleasurable and inspiring and in which we can be part of a stimulating community.”