

Coworking Spaces - chasef
http://www.whereverworker.com/coolest-us-coworking-spaces

======
agentultra
If you're ever in Toronto, Canada -
[https://bentomiso.com](https://bentomiso.com) is where I work out of. It's
pretty open so bring some headphones.

However they only do events/presentations in the evening and have private
meetings rooms available.

There is a strong indie-game developer community here and a lot of folks from
various creative fields outside web development.

~~~
nonane
Toronto Canada, I work out of Gizmolabs:
[http://gizmolabs.ca](http://gizmolabs.ca) . Small space, meeting room
available, great part time packages and interesting people. Lots of web
developers here.

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crabasa
If you're in the Seattle area, some friends and I are opening a coworking
space specifically for _developers_ and _software people_ in December. We're
still working through some basics (pricing, plans, etc) but at a minimum we'll
have amazing bandwidth, professionally installed AP's and a bunch of hackers:

[http://coworking.formidablelabs.com](http://coworking.formidablelabs.com)

We're also using Github issues to collect feedback on what developers want out
of a coworking space. Feel free to add your thoughts, even if you're not in
Seattle:

[https://github.com/FormidableLabs/coworking/issues/1](https://github.com/FormidableLabs/coworking/issues/1)

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illdave
I'm getting a 404 right now - HN may have killed it.

Here's Google's cached version:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5Z5fsU_...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5Z5fsU_xOIcJ:www.whereverworker.com/coolest-
us-coworking-spaces)

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jamesbritt
Out of curiosity, do people care or take into consideration whether a co-
working space is run (ideally) as a sustainable business, or if it is tax-
payer funded or otherwise government subsidized?

For example, in Scottsdale there is the Eureka Network that operates out of
the main public library. It's more than just under-utilized space being made
available; they're spending money on assorted staff, programs, and
infrastructure.

Use of the facilities is "free" to the extent that the taxpayer is picking up
the tab, and it competes with private businesses (such as Co-hoots in Phoenix)
trying to do the essentially the same thing.

I much prefer to see these kinds of things done as private operations; I don't
see offering free work-space to private companies as an essential city
service.

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Splendor
I love this idea. I've heard of
[http://coworkbuffalo.com/](http://coworkbuffalo.com/)

Unfortunately there's nothing like this near me at the moment. I hope it
catches on.

~~~
jeffasinger
There's also
[http://www.coworkingrochester.com/](http://www.coworkingrochester.com/), I
don't know exactly where near you is.

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nwh
Looks like another Wordpress install just bit the dust. Memory allocation
errors on the front page and everything else is a 404.

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willismichael
These workspaces look really nice, but I'm not sure how productive I can be in
such an open space unless there is a serious "no talking in the library" style
of culture there. I would regularly get distracted by conversations happening
across the room, unless everything was kept to a whisper.

~~~
test1235
I'd use headphones - same as for when I work in a 'regular' office. You might
then question the need for being in such a space at all, but I like being
around people, even if I'm not interacting with them.

~~~
willismichael
I use headphones in my current open workspace, but I find that there are
certain things that I work on that are really better in silence. From
Peopleware [1]:

"During the 1960s, researchers at Cornell University conducted a series of
tests on the effects of working with music. They polled a group of computer
science students and divided the students into two groups, those who liked to
have music in the background while they worked (studied) and those who did
not. Then they put half of each group together in a silent room, and the other
half of each group in a different room equipped with earphones and a musical
selection. Participants in both rooms were given a Fortran programming problem
to work out from specification. To no one's surprise, participants in the two
rooms performed about the same in speed an accuracy of programming. As any kid
who does his arithmetic homework with the music on knows, the part of the
brain required for arithmetic and related logic is unbothered by music --
there's another brain center that listens to the music."

"The Cornless experiment, however, contained a hidden wild card. The
specification required that an output data stream be formed through a series
of manipulations on numbers in the input data stream... Although the
specification never said it, the net effect of all the operations was that
each output number was necessarily equal to its input number. Some people
realized this and others did not. Of those who figured it out, the
overwhelming majority came from the quiet room."

I don't think there's a problem with listening to music _some_ of the time. My
concern is that by constantly having the headphones on to mitigate audible
distractions, I'll miss insights that would directly impact the quality of the
work that I do.

[1] [http://www.amazon.com/Peopleware-Productive-Projects-
Teams-E...](http://www.amazon.com/Peopleware-Productive-Projects-Teams-
Edition/dp/0321934113)

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grrrando
Curious how most of these spaces promo photos don't have any people in them.

Along that same vein, I'm very partial to the community-focused angle that
Indy Hall in Philadelphia has taken:
[http://www.indyhall.org/](http://www.indyhall.org/)

~~~
VLM
My experience of working in very photogenic operations center type rooms is
that photographers do not find the actual users as photogenic as the
architecture of the room, so for picture days, we would be shoved to one side
as they marched in hordes of very young, very attractive, carefully groomed,
extremely well dressed professional models, 50:50 male and female and the
usual very close attention to marketing-style perfect racial distribution,
etc. Believe it or not they also sometimes do this for important clients
touring the facility. And this is all very expensive, so they may not want to
drop the dough on professional models.

~~~
eksith
That's terrible. What will this to morale of people already working there? I
know most folks are infatuated with appearances, but surely actual
productivity and output should trump employees who "look good".

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santaclaus
Has anyone used a coworking space in NYC (Manhattan or Brooklyn) and a
particularly good or bad experience?

~~~
grrrando
Bad experience: Joined a space in March, it closed before the end of May.
Found out it was at severe risk of closing a week into my membership, without
ever being told about it as I was checking the space out. They had a 30-day
termination notice clause in membership contract, which had to match up to the
billing cycle. So I was locked into that second month even though I knew the
time there was, more or less, wasted.

In my case, I was looking for a space with people I could interact with and
get to know and be comfortable and happy around ('coworkers', natch). The
looming death of the space totally killed any potential for that to happen.
That's why I consider the time/money a waste.

Lesson: ask how "healthy" the space is when you're "interviewing" the space.

~~~
raimondious
Same experience here. Bought a year-long membership at a steep discount in
March, shuttered without warning a couple of weeks ago. A mismanaged startup
led to many people without a workspace:
[http://observer.com/2013/10/brooklyns-creative-
community-3rd...](http://observer.com/2013/10/brooklyns-creative-
community-3rd-ward-shutters-without-warning/)

------
stevewilber
Oficio looks fantastic. Those desks facing the window are just about the ideal
spot for me.

Are there any coworking spaces like these around Palo Alto or Mountain View?
Hacker Dojo has a great vibe but the lack of natural light is a bummer.

------
jamesbritt
If you're in or around Phoenix, there's Co-hoots in downtown. If you're in the
East Valley near Phoenix check out Heatsync Lab's open-to-the public hours and
their Code + Coffee times.

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Romoku
Not sure if this counts, but Bamboo Detroit (Detroit, MI)
([http://www.bamboodetroit.com/](http://www.bamboodetroit.com/)) is one I've
heard some buzz around.

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TarpitCarnivore
If anyone is in the Jersey Shore area there is a coworking place in Asbury
Park called Cowerks, [http://cowerking.com/](http://cowerking.com/)

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slimbods
Has anyone experienced a successful co working space in a more rural location?
I'm wondering what kind of local population is required to support them.

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DevUps
[http://www.co-merge.com/](http://www.co-merge.com/) in San Diego was a good
experience for me.

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pgsch
Looks very nice, but it must be very hard to work there with all the noise,
conversations and visual distractions.

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timhargis
There's Gangplank ([http://gangplankhq.com](http://gangplankhq.com)) and
Cohoots ([http://cohoots.com](http://cohoots.com)) for people in Phoenix.
Pretty cool vibe and I believe Gangplank is entirely free and Cohoots is
pretty inexpensive.

~~~
andrewryno
Gangplank is great. I worked there for a few years up until 6 months ago when
I moved to SF. I also know many people involved in Co+Hoots, and it's also a
great space.

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partisan
The search function doesn't seem to be working.

~~~
chocolate_
The site just broke.

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colinbartlett
I miss Loosecubes.

~~~
ricricucit
[http://www.sharedesk.net](http://www.sharedesk.net) is not good enough? :(
Well...we're soon going to surprise you :P

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ricricucit
Good list. ...and you can check more on
[http://www.sharedesk.net](http://www.sharedesk.net) (maybe for your next
list?)

