How co­working hubs could recharge our cities

ARCHITECTURE I 13.07.15 I BY JENNIFER CONLIN
This former cardboard box factory in the Northern Liberties area of Philadelphia was transformed into a creative co­working hub by local entrepreneur Paul Maiello and developer Macro Sea. Photography: Macro Sea

The co­working movement is picking up pace. As the digital era spawns new startups across the globe, shared workspaces – creative melting pots where freelancers and small businesses can rub shoulders, swap ideas and even trade business – are exploding across our cities. And their numbers will only rise

A report by property company DTZ predicts that by 2024, micro­businesses will account for 1.1 million new UK enterprises and self­employment will surge by 15% in a decade.

That’s just in Britain.

Across the world, these fledgling businesses are looking for new stomping grounds. And coworking spaces – armed with their own mini eco­systems of tech facilities, cafes, talk programmes and networking apps – can lure them to places big corporations would fear to go.

But can they actually kick­start regeneration? Here we take a look at cities across the globe.

Moving into an urban wasteland

Co­working company Betahaus took over a state­owned building on derelict land in Berlin’s Kreuzeberg in 2009, transforming it into a hub for creative startups.  

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ARCHITECTURE I 13.07.15 I BY JENNIFER CONLIN
Over the last six years, Kreuzeberg has emerged as one of Berlin’s most popular neighbourhoods, something Betahaus’s co­founder Christophe Fahle partly attributes to the co­working space’s presence off Prinzessinnenstraße. The median age of its users is 25–35, and most of them travel by bike. Photography: Marie J Burrows

Six years later, the 3,000 sq m space is home to over 300 small businesses and freelancers. And it has been the launchpad for some of the tech industry’s biggest names, including music sharing platform, Soundcloud. 

WHEN WE MOVED IN, THE SURROUNDING WAS A DESERT,

says cofounder, Christophe Fahle.

‘Nobody would go to that end of Oranienstraße: there were no shops, no restaurants, just döner kebab shops.’ Since then, the area has seen a monumental shift: ‘Now we have an urban gardening spot, design shops and Modulor House, with its architects and creative supplies,’ Fahle adds.

‘I believe we are one of the main factors that have driven this change.’ 

And it’s a model Betahaus has replicated in Barcelona and Sofia.

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ARCHITECTURE I 13.07.15 I BY JENNIFER CONLIN

Stemming the brain drain in American’s ‘rust belt’

 

Over in Detroit, entire neighbourhoods are wastelands. And unlike in Berlin – a magnet for young professionals and creatives – Detroit’s graduates have been leaving the state in droves over recent decades in search of job opportunities.

Could co­working spaces help stem the flow, while rebooting these areas? The answer is an emphatic yes.

With 78 percent of users being under 40­years­ old, co­working hubs could offer Michigan’s graduates the security of an inbuilt micro­economy that would help them establish work relationships and businesses.

Detroit shares many of Berlin’s architectural qualities too – large industrial structures perfect for reuse as shared studio spaces.

One such example is in Corktown, Detroit, where local entrepreneur Phillip Cooley created Ponyride. The 30,000 sq ft space – part business incubator, part collaborative workspace – is firmly embedding itself within the surrounding neighbourhood. 

Ponyride offers desks to 40 local entrepreneurs for a below market rental rate. The catch? Each member must give six hours of time to community education a month.

The co­working group is not only physically impacting its block, it is helping develop skills within the wider area.

‘It's about community coming together and asking, “What can we do outside of traditional systems?”’

says Cooley.

Masterplanning the future

 

Big developers are beginning to wake up to co­working’s pulling power, making it a core part of their place­making strategies. Over in London, a vast shared workspace is the lynchpin in a major plan to regenerate the derelict Royal Docklands. 

The first phase of the £3.5 billion masterplan – drawn up by Fletcher Priest Architects – will see the transformation of the crumbling Millennium Mills into a tech and media coworking hub. Boosted by a £12m investment, it’s scheduled to open in 2017 before the completion of 3,000 homes.

‘We have now marked the start, with Millennium Mills set to house half a million sq ft of creativity at the heart of Silvertown.’

‘We have a unique opportunity here to bring together many of the leading edge activities, with the space to grow, to collaborate, to move our city forward,’ says Elliot Lipton from the Silvertown Partnership

Beyond the capital, coworking has also been crucial in bringing the Liverpool’s defunct docklands back into use as the Baltic Triangle – a thriving new creative quarter.

It seems our cities’ industrial badlands are the perfect candidates for coworking’s midas touch.