The office as ‘third place
That’s a little contradictory, because the office is your ‘second place’, your home being the first, with your favorite hangout often referred to as the third place. But that’s compelling the premise behind The Work Factory in Richmond, VA – the office as third place.
From $299 a month, like any true third place, you’ll have literally dozens of places to set up your laptop and get to work, as described by co-founder, Ted Randler:
“Between the community spaces and the meeting room, a $299 Gold or $799 Silver user can “nest out” in the facility lounges with a laptop and cell phone and be extremely productive on a daily basis.
Our upstairs large conference room is considered another community lounge when not reserved for a meeting. In addition to that and the lobby area we have the wi-fi lounge and patio both of which are set up with café and pub style tables as well as cushy chairs for those long laptop sessions.
The kitchen has pub seating and the gooseneck IMac (you can grab a bagel and browse the net) and 3 different kinds of flavored coffee and espresso cappuccino machines. We’ve started our first tradition of bagel Fridays.
The building was also a restaurant so the existing multilevel patio that already had power outlets was an easy area to translate into a lounge/meeting spot where the wifi extends. Folks can just plug in their laptops and have an entire business day outdoors.”
More tomorrow…
About The Author
love the idea. i’ve worked from home for 6 years and i’ve often wished there were a place like this around town. although i’d still prefer to work from the cafe, i think. it’s sort of sad that “the office,” in whatever form it takes, would be a “third place” for anyone. :( we just work too much.