New Systems and Services: from selling furniture to selling space
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on June 25th, 2009
Source: Eva Hagberg, Metropolis Magazine, Newsletter 06/2009
Image via Workspring
Part of the shift towards sustainable practices includes sharing resources rather than owning them outright. Systems and Services design philosophy has long proposed shared office spaces as part of the new models of consumption. Workspring is a successful US business model which is about to expand to its second site.
“Workspring is a rentable collaborative office unit in Chicago that offers everything from morning Internet access and a desk and fax to evening wine-and-cheese events.
Back in 2007, a small start-up might have leased 2,000 square feet of office space and fitted and kitted it out with the latest line from Allsteel. Now they’re more likely to meet at the local Starbucks. The fractured freelance world means fewer contract-furniture sales and more experimental economies.
Mark Greiner is the senior vice president of Steelcase’s WorkSpace Futures team and the brains behind Workspring. “What I was seeing was a shift toward elements that weren’t necessarily playing to our strengths.” His solution was to give customers the office experience, not necessarily an office. And so Workspring was born. The rentable office unit opened last November in Chicago. Outfitted partly with Steelcase furniture, it’s a well-designed and well-laid-out space, but it’s not a showroom. Larger corporations realise they may not need a large central office (with all the incumbent costs), but can look at spreading out across various locations. Even bare-bones start-ups have physical needs: a place to host a video-conference presentation or meet with potential clients, a desk, a printer, and Internet access.”
Source: Eva Hagberg, Metropolis Magazine, Newsletter 06/2009