Creative coworking space being crowdsourced at Artisphere!

[Neil Takemoto]

CoZone is a co-creating space at Artisphere, a combination of shared workplace and incubator within the new 55,000 s.f. creative facility scheduled to open in Arlington County on 10.10.10.  CoZone is 500 square feet of core shared working space with access to a separate conference room, additional surrounding individual workspaces and casual meeting areas.

The proposed guidelines are: 

- CoZone is intended for individuals committed to enhancing the region's creative culture and economy and to working collaboratively with other members and the larger creative community.

- The monthly fee is $250 for full-time desk space membership, $125 for drop-in membership. Mix of memberships will be based on demand.


- Part of the monthly fee can be reinvested to CoZone members for collaborative projects that enhance the region's creative culture and economy.  *Details below.


- The initial phase of the selection process will be crowdsourced. All applicants will be reviewed by the public through a CoZone's crowdsourcing website. The top 25 applicants identified through comments and ratings will be reviewed by Artisphere staff.  Artisphere staff will make the final selection from the top crowdsourced applicants.

- The application process will ask applicants to respond to questions such as:

How will you benefit from being a member of CoZone? 

What is your interest in collaborating with fellow CoZone creatives to enhance the region's creative culture and economy? 

- The public will be allowed to view and rate submissions as they are posted. Applications posted soonest have a better chance to draw support from the public. 


- Tentative mid-July date for closing the public process. 

- Tentative July 30 date for Artisphere staff to determine members, alternates, and full-time/drop-in mix.

*Full time members have the option to invest part of their monthly fee into a collaborative creative project. If the project benefits Artisphere and/or involves crowdsourced ideas, the budget may be matched by Artisphere.

See context plan within Artisphere and floor plan below:

[Neil Takemoto]

Some offline comments to date:

"Looks great! Thanks for sharing. It's so exciting that this project is moving forward!

I'm glad you got them to remove the dividers. I can understand that the dividers only separate people. Facing tables are definitely better (at least for me, so I'm sure I'm not the only one) since you can talk to each other and also not feel like people are looking over your shoulder.

I like the idea of bar seating. My only concern is to make sure that it's comfortable. For a short person like me, sometimes the placement of the footrests is off and my feet have to dangle uncomfortably. I'm sure the actual selection of seats is down the road, but I hope they get some good ones!

Is there any "wet" working space, such as for artisans and crafters who might have messier projects? That would be pretty cool. (I know I should have voiced my opinion on this long ago, so I'm probably too late...)

Can't wait to come by and use the wi-fi! Thanks for the insight into this cool new project!"

and...

"Looks awesome! I agree about removing the dividers. If there are dividers up what's the point of coworking anyway? You can go separate yourself from people elsewhere.

I can't wait to come use the facility myself!"

and...

"Another vote against dividers! Glad you got rid of them.

I agree that bar seating needs a place to rest your feet. If you look at the setup at Affinity Lab's bar seating I think there are some places to rest your feet there. It might be part of the tables, I can't quite remember. It doesn't need to be desk height -- tall seats are cool -- just needs foot rests. This is a rotating spot, so people don't need to work eight hour days in these places.

Something that people have long needed is a simple phone call space -- that is, somewhere to take the mobile phone when you need privacy or are simply going to disrupt people by talking. My ideal vision is some vintage phone booths and maybe doll them up (or not), but I don't know if that jives with the space or is possible. Another possibility is just having some very small spaces where people can duck in for privacy now and then.

Also, the couch section could use a coffee table, end tables, and/or some of those roll-up desk things we use at the couch area in Affinity Lab.

And lastly, is there a kitchen? :)

I will definitely be visiting this space!!"

and...

"That's nice that the bar-seating is desk height, although I agree that taller is OK as long as the seats are comfortable.

Per the wet space, I personally would probably use a wet space 1-5 times per month, would probably do so for 3-6 hours at a time, and could probably set up and clean up by the end of the day. However it would be cool to have some sort of storage space for supplies in the interim. I'm sure there would be other people like me who would like to use such a space. Also, it could be used for art/craft parties. :)

I also noticed on the Artisphere site that there's a WIP (works in progress) gallery -- I wonder if that could also be a more permanent wet space? (I imagine that will be for solicited artists, but still, it's a cool idea!)

Re separate phone spaces, they do a good job with this at Google (which has mostly small coworking labs and not individual offices). Check out the pods in this pic (sixth picture http://www.snopes.com/photos/architecture/google.asp I saw this space in Zurich but no one is supposed to take photos). They have a ton of various "phone pods" at Google.

Coffee and end tables in the couch area sound great too!"

[Neil Takemoto]

From Claire Huschle:

"I think this looks good. Any "storage space" people's coats, bags, or peripherals? Didn't see them on here but I know I am always schlepping stuff back and forth.

I think the more crucial space will be the conference room and lounge areas, since that is where people would bring potential clients or clients. The furniture and technology set up will be really important. I would definitely recommend having a projector (or at least a projector holder) ceiling mounted, along with a media screen. I imagine you've already thought of all that...."

Claire Huschle
Executive Director
aac find your artist.
A private non-profit arts center with exhibitions, classes, & studios.
www.arlingtonartscenter.org