You can get away with imperfections in the space when the community vibe is good. It’s much, much harder to get away with cultural dysfunction (or nonexistence) when the space is good.
It’s not debate of if space OR community is valuable or important. Both are important.
What’s important is that the returns in absence of each other are unbalanced.
Here’s what I’ve observed across LOTS of different styles/kinds/scales/breeds of coworking, including “dedicated" coworking spaces like what many of us run, but also including some of the bigger patterns in how/where people work in other kinds of businesses & corporations.
Perfectly designed, beautiful, ergonomic, and inspiring spaces without an attractive culture are the ones that find themselves weak for new membership, weak to retain their members, and very, very difficult to sustain without constantly applying pressure.
I’ve seen the lack of community lead to the burnout and closure of a LOT of beautiful coworking spaces that people seem to be “impressed" by. Meanwhile, the returns on well designed spaces is MULTIPLIED by a great community.
Take this out of the context of coworking for a second to see what I mean: companies are spending FORTUNES to create beautifully designed spaces to inspire their employees to create, collaborate, and be more productive…and they expect to get a return on those investments. If a company spends hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars on an office, they expect that it can generate some multiple of that more in recruitment, retention, collaboration, and innovation.
What I’ve learned along the way is that most of these companies design the space intentionally, but don’t do anything to design the culture of the company with the same intent. When the culture and the space design aren’t congruent, those hopeful returns are very hard to realize…
When those companies put even a fraction of the effort and intention into designing the culture of the community as they do the space, the results are tremendous.
COMBINE those two efforts, and the results are unparalleled 
-Alex
···
I know I’m jumping into this discussion
late, but just getting to my overflowing in box!
I just wanted to respond to the discussion that popped up about
the physical “space” itself not being a huge factor when people
think about “what makes a good coworking space”. I don’t speak
French, unfortunately, Nicolas, so I can’t read what you wrote on
the subject, but here at The Commons one of the first things
people say that they enjoy about our space is the actual, physical
space.
We put a lot of effort into making the space feel comfortable,
sophisticated and inviting and this has paid off tremendously. I
would say that, yes, people choose to work here because they like
the vibe and the community but I would argue that one of the
factors contributing to the vibe and community is the physical
space. It encourages people to talk, lounge and be comfortable.
One of the big things that factor into them choosing us above
other coworking spaces in town is that they are proud to bring
their clients here, that it is comfortable to work in and it
really does feel like a home away from home. Our members take
great pride in our space - we can tell as they bring their clients
on a tour when they come in and talk a lot about the design.
I was a member here before I became an owner and I knew when I
took over that that was one of the biggest criteria for me - to
work in an inspiring, well-designed space. This is something I
feel quite passionately about, in fact, and was a huge debate when
my brother and I took over the space as he just wanted to put in
the least expensive, most utilitarian furniture possible and said
no one would care.
It may be just sibling rivalry, but I do like the fact that he had
to admit a year later that I was right and he was wrong … 
~Erynn
On 2014-09-14, 11:45 AM, Nicolas Bergé wrote:
I recently asked the members of Les Satellites
“What makes a good coworking space ?”. I received different
answers, none of them put the “space” as a criteria.
I've realized that members are the best to define what
coworking is and what coworking is not, even though they only
know a few coworking spaces, if not only one. I wrote
something here
()
explaining why members of coworking spaces are not interested
by the space criteria (in French).
If you can include, Ramon, the members' - your members' -
viewpoints on the definition of coworking you wish to show,
you’ll be better off - we’ll all be better off.
Nicolas Bergé
Les Satellites
–
Visit this forum on the web at [http://discuss.coworking.com](http://discuss.coworking.com)
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http://www.les-satellites.com/2014/09/les-personnes-qui-font-du-coworking-ne.html
-- --
Erynn Lyster
The Commons Calgary
a cowork apothecary
(403) 399-1716 (cell) or (403) 452-7938 (office)
www.thecommonscalgary.com
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