BLOX: A new window for the Copenhagen urban and architecture scene
BLOX is a new venue and a co-working space dedicated to creative professionals involved in urban development, construction, architecture and design. It is launching in Copenhagen in May, with the ambition to “innovate urbanization”. We went to hear about their vision and have a sneak peek of the inside.
Copenhagen BLOX is both a co-working space (the “Hub”), a cultural window on architecture, urban planning, design and, generally speaking, a meeting place as well as a playground for those who make the city of tomorrow. Designed by architecture firm OMA and financed by Danish foundation Realdania, the glassy and geometrical building located in the heart of the city seeks to activate the waterfront. Last Wednesday, we were invited to hear more about the process and vision for the interior design and the Hub.
The afternoon was kicked off by BLOXHUB member, Thomas Fokdal, partner at Copenhagen Windows, who stated that the co-working offices today are in direct competition with the public space (or rather, semi-public and shared spaces ; editor’s note), as many small businesses use cafés, hotels, trains and libraries as their workplaces.
This forces actors like BLOXHUB to think through their added value… While the social network and possibilities to be part of a like-minded community is the most obvious one, challenging existing business models may offer new opportunities. Thomas Fokdal hence suggests to envision a “performance based rent” for example. We definitely see that as an interesting path to explore and it would be interesting to investigate the metrics needed to assess what makes an office place “productive”.
The other competitive advantage that BLOXHUB has, is that, by targeting a well-defined community, it can cluster different facilities and machines (a FABLAB, a film making studios, a BIM workshop, etc.), which will be accessible to the members in one place. This sets the standards and the ambition of the place…
Later in the afternoon, Danielsen Space Planning agency, in charge of designing the co-working spaces and offices in the new building, presented their thoughts and work processes. CEO Malin Meyer explained how they followed the now widespread concept of “Activity Based Working”, in order to create office spaces able to adapt to the varied needs of workers, going from intense, focussed activities to impromptu and informal meetings or workshops, for example.
Their take on the ABW concept is to envision different “stamps” on the space, meaning a palette of atmospheres, pieces of furniture and spatial qualities. State of the arts in acoustic furniture have been looked at in order to create islands of intimate social spaces within open plateaux. This is also a way to foster cross-pollination between the different users of the place, as it is indeed one of BLOXHUB’s promises, without compromising the quality of the workplace.
In line with the high ambition of the place, new materials furniture drawn by upcoming designers and customized objects will be used in BLOX, as it seeks to showcase Copenhagen’s take on design and architecture.
The focus on the physical frame should, however, not overshadow the work on community building, which BLOXHUB works on through all their events and matchmaking sessions (see for example our previous post). Not much was said on that part during the event, but the digital tools are in place.
They now need to be activated to bring added value to the users. As it is a topic we, at Sharing.Lab, are actively exploring, we look forward to following up on their community building strategy.
The journey has just begun… We’ll tell more in May, when this new workspace will open.
Can’t wait!
/Sharing.Lab
