My coworking Journal, week 5: coworking from Place to Place
As I enter my fifth week, I am drawing close to the end of my coworking experiment. For the past month, I have been visiting and working from different coworking spaces and recording my observations. I am a 20-year-old American student studying abroad in Berlin, and before I began this internship, I did not even know what coworking was.
The project that I am now working on is guided by Coworkies, an online platform that connects people between coworking spaces globally (www.coworkies.com ). Last week, I interviewed three different people connected with coworking, both owners and coworkers themselves. This week, I plan to work from a different coworking location each day and evaluate how I feel in each one, as well as attend a few coworking events.
Place #1, Sankt Oberholz
My first space was one I have been to before: Sankt Oberholz. After interviewing Tobias last week, (interview just here)
I could not get the space out of my head, so I came back for more. This week, I was just sitting quietly in the cafe, focusing on my own work. I took in the calm atmosphere around me and enjoyed the mixture of modern furniture and more old-fashioned light fixtures and architecture.
I changed tables several times and had to become accustomed to other customers sharing small tables with me, something that is less common in American coffee shops. Though the cafe portion of Sankt Oberholz is different than the coworking space, I still experienced the communal feeling of many different people gathering to work on many different types of projects. At home in the U.S., I often spend hours working in my local coffee shops, so spending time at Sankt Oberholz felt very natural and comfortable.
Place #2, Salon Renate
My next coworking day, however, did not go exactly as planned. I had intended to work from Salon Renate, a trendy-looking space with a very tempting cafe menu.
When I arrived at said space around 9:00, I realized that they would not be opening until 10:00. Aimless wandering ensued as I attempted to find a cafe with wifi to pass the time until 10:00. After an hour that felt like a day, I returned to Salon Renate only to find it still closed, I paced in front of the very locked door for about twenty minutes before I decided to cut my losses and accept that it was not meant to be. Then came yet more wandering as I once again set off on a search for wifi. I eventually ended up in a pleasant little bakery. Though I enjoyed my time there, I could see a noted difference between this cafe and Sankt Oberholz’s cafe.
In Sankt Oberholz, people settled in with their work for hours, and the atmosphere felt much cozier and more conducive to productivity. In the bakery, I was the only one with my laptop out. Everyone who came in cycled out fairly quickly, while I bunked down for several hours. I definitely felt more out of place than I had working at other coworking spaces, so by the time I finished there, I was ready for the rest of the week to go more smoothly and allow me the chance to successfully work from the coworking cafes that I found last week.
Place #3, JuggleHUB
The next day took me to one of the first coworking spaces that I learned about: JuggleHUB. JuggleHUB is a coworking space where parents can bring their children to be cared for while they work.
During my first couple of days, when I was first familiarizing myself with the concept of coworking, I read the Coworkies’ blog post about their tour and interview with the creators of JuggleHUB, Silvia Steude and Katja Thiede. The space sounded like a cozy and inviting place, catering to family interests, so it remained on my radar. When I was choosing coworking spaces to work from this week, JuggleHUB naturally came to mind. When I set out in the morning, it took me a little while to figure out how to get to JuggleHUB. My trip there took me to a part of the city I had never seen before and involved much intense studying of Google Maps.
Once I arrived, I was a bit at a loss as Silvia showed around a group who was visiting the space and I lurked in the doorway, unsure of whether or not the cafe was open to the public. However, once I explained my project to Silvia, she could not have been warmer or more welcoming. I installed myself in the light-filled, aesthetic cafe area to work for the day. As I suspected I would, I enjoyed the feel of the space, and especially appreciated the moments when a toddler would wander into the cafe area, guided by his or her parent. If I were in a situation of needing to both work and care for a young child, I know that JuggleHUB would top my list of places to work from.
Place #4, Agora Collective
The next place that I chose was Agora Collective, a general coworking space hosting a tempting cafe menu. I trekked through the rain to get there, and as I turned from winding street to winding street, I began to be nervous that I was about to stumble on a private space not available to the public.
When the sidewalk vanished and a large, heavily secured facility rose up before me, I became more and more sure that this coworking option would not pan out. However, tucked away from the street, I found Agora, and stumbled upon their beautiful cafe space.
Plants and pink flowers are scattered all around the single room. Pink folding chairs are scattered around each table and the glow of globe lights sticking out from the walls makes the lighting pleasantly soft. I think this may have been my favorite space so far as I loved the flowery theme and the friendliness of everyone in the room. I felt like the pastel color scheme brightened my mood and made my work go quickly and easily.
My only regret is that I won’t have the opportunity to see the space in late spring or summer, as it looked like there would be a beautiful garden and outdoor seating when the weather gets a little warmer.
Place #5, Supermarkt
Later that same day, I attended a panel at Supermarkt, a coworking space focused on digital work. The panel was made up of the metroZones collective, a group that studies urban research, art, and education. I was a little nervous about going to the event by myself, but I pushed past my nerves and sought out the location. When I arrived, I felt a little out of place as the gathering was rather intimate and I had no background knowledge about the topic being presented.
When the talk began, my feeling of awkwardness faded as I became just another member of the audience. MetroZones discussed their projects in Hellersdorfer, Moritzplatz and Mehringplatz which include the creation of themed wallpaper, interviews and stories from locals, and a “School for Urban Acting.” I found the talk very interesting, but as I lacked a frame of reference for their project, I was a bit lost at times. However, I am glad that I attended the event, and plan to look further into the metroZone collective and the topic of urban development in general.
Place #6, Unicorn Berlin, Mitte
For my last day of coworking space rotation, I attempted to work from Unicorn.Berlin. The first snag in my plan came when I failed to realize that Unicorn has two different locations: one a cafe and one purely a coworking space. I ended up at the coworking space, where I would have had to pay to work there. The woman I spoke to sent me over to the cafe, where I could buy products there to earn wifi for an hour.
I spent an hour nursing a latte and working on this blog before I was cut off. While the space’s decorations were aesthetically pleasing and there were plenty of comfortable places to work, I was mostly trying to work out of free coffee shops so I decided to look for another place.
All the previous places I have been this week had cafes that were open to the public or free trial days for their coworking spaces. For this reason, Unicorn probably ranks as my least favorite coworking location I have seen so far. After my hour at the cafe was up, I began wandering aimlessly, trying to find somewhere else with wifi from which to work. I came upon Sankt Oberholz and decided to end my week in the same location where I began it. I spent the rest of my time happily installed in Sankt Oberholz’s deeply stylish cafe, enjoying the benefits of free wifi, and planning out my final week of coworking.
You can read about my previous week right below
The Coworkies team has traveled to 110 coworking spaces across 12 cities and interviewed coworking space owners and teams, collecting stories along the way. They forge connections between coworking spaces and open doors to a more global coworking community.
