Coworking…perhaps you’ve heard of it? It’s a hot trend in how freelancers, startups and small teams want to work within the confines of an office. While working from home or the local coffee shop used to be all the rage, coworking has revolutionized the way many prefer to work. It’s become critical that coworking space design meets the needs of this growing segment of the workforce.
As designers, we’ve decided to fully embrace the concept – and now offer a complete package for creating a coworking office space called TCS Environments Complete. But before we get into the details of our exciting new division, here’s a quick primer on coworking.
Coworking…definition and trends
With coworking, a group of workers, typically employed by different businesses or self-employed, use a shared workplace. Generally, the workers attracted to coworking also share a common set of values – with social factors being one of the most often mentioned.
Coworking offices are successful for a number of reasons, but a recent study showed that people in coworking spaces saw their work as more meaningful, felt like they had more job control and enjoyed a sense of community. In a nutshell, employees seem to be thriving in these shared workspaces – hence the growth in the trend.
The first coworking spaces showed up in 2005 – not that long ago! The number of coworking spaces in the United States is forecast to be over 6,200 by 2022. This is more than double the number of spaces around just four years ago. And coworking is not just a trend in the U.S. – worldwide last year, over 1.65 million people used coworking spaces.
What makes a great coworking office design?
Quite a bit goes into creating a successful coworking office space.
Design – flexibility in space usage is key. Coworkers are looking for a suite of office-like amenities, including private office space for solo work and meeting space for collaboration. Spaces should include a nice lobby, kitchen and office amenities. And the design and layout of the office must meet the needs of the anticipated coworkers.
Culture – a sense of community is also very important. Glass walls give coworkers the freedom and mobility to see who is around the office and locate folks to connect with on projects. They make it conducive to organic collaboration at work and foster innovative thinking. At the same time, the glass walls also keep coworkers from feeling isolated while they work, since they can see other workers on their floor.
Cost savings – finally, the ability to rent out only the space needed makes coworking office space very attractive. Most coworking spaces have membership fees that allow flexibility with regards to space used, dates and amenities. It is typically very cost-effective when compared to the alternative of renting private office space.
How does Environments Complete fit into coworking space design?
After studying the trends, we knew we had the answer to creating great coworking spaces. Our new division, TCS Environments Complete, which resides under the TCS umbrella, houses a team that can quote, design and install an entire coworking office.
This includes all aspects of office design: door handle hardware, glass architectural walls, sliding doors, pivot doors, soft closures and more. Features of our system include:
• Ability to support heavier movable glass walls (up to 330 lbs.)
• Taller glass walls with larger openings
• Soft-close features for sliding glass doors
• ADA compliant options on everything from door handle hardware to sliding frameless glass walls
• No pre-assembly required
• All design specifications done in-house by our engineers
• No need to source components from multiple vendors…we have it all!
As we mentioned earlier, we’ve fully embraced the coworking space trend…and are ready to be the one-stop provider for the industry. We have 17+ years’ experience in design and engineering that we’ve poured into offering the complete architectural solution for creating glass environments.
Coworking is about more than just inexpensive workspace – those who seek out coworking office space are also looking for a totally different work experience. TCS Environments Complete can deliver the experience coworkers are looking for and architects want to create for them. Learn more about our one-stop approach for creating modern, open office design….and we will help employees thrive!
T-Concepts Solutions is a Miami-based custom manufacturer of architectural glass door hardware. The firm specializes in locking ladder pulls, non-locking ladder pulls, custom pull handles, ADA compliant hardware, glass hinges, to hydraulic patch fittings and sliding door solutions. TCS services clients throughout North America. For more information, visit t-concepts.com, call 888-409-9340, or email at hello@t-concepts.com