Hi Al
Privacy is a tricky thing. A lot of folks that are new to coworking worry about it before they start and I’ve found that once they are actually working in a shared space the need is unfounded. My recommendation would be to start without the panels or start with a limited number.
Your members will have dual screens, picture frames, potted plants, action figures, laptops, etc, that will start to break up the work area.
Best, John
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On Thursday, January 3, 2019 at 3:19:56 PM UTC-5, AK wrote:
My thought is for the desks which face each other in the hot desk section, not the dedicated section. Thus people would have some privacy in their 4 desk (2 side by side and front to front) arrangement.
Would that be beneficial or detract from the open setting?
AL
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On Thursday, January 3, 2019 at 2:19:56 PM UTC-6, AK wrote:
Our members are pretty happy with this, we offered “wings” and nobody wanted them…BTW, these cost about $100 to make and are pretty simple. Notice the tables are on casters so we can move them around and when we have events, we use them to close off the “permanent” desks.
I agree, privacy is high on the list before someone joins and then, they tend to like the openness. Plus, we want members who mingle, makes for a better space.
I have seen 12 to 18 inch panels for the face to face but we don’t have them and nobody seems to care…When we opened, we had less bar height and more lower tables and everyone gravitated to the bar height because they can sit or stand. Those tables are about $150 to make so we figured if nobody liked them, we weren’t out a lot.
I only have ~1,000sqft in total of which ~800 is usable for desks, lounge, and meeting spaces.
It breaks out this way:
1 small meeting space, about 12’x13’ with a couch and a 3’x6’ table with 4 task chairs
1 smaller huddle room, about 8.5’x11’ with 4 club chairs, meant for phone calls, private discussion, and (eventually) podcast/vocal recording
1 main room, about 22.5’x17’ with 5 3’x6’ tables - three tables are for 6 dedicated desks, and the last two tables are hotdesks with 4 chairs each.
1 small lounge area, about 7’x10’ that is an open part of the main room with one couch and two club chairs with 2 round tables in the centre.
I’m hoping for 6 members at dedicated desks and about 15+ members at part-time packages.
I should say that I’m very open to working with my members on tuning the layout and usage.
I’m planning on opening 01 May (nervous, excited, etc.!)
