At the corner of Ohio and State streets in downtown Chicago, a short walk from the famous Magnificent Mile, a cozy Starbucks store beckons. People sit at tables enjoying Americanos, wireless access, and all the accoutrements of what social scientists call a “third place,” a term coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg.

Separate from our first place (home) and second place (office), such coffee shops, libraries, pubs, parks and other “great good places” are informal, safe, public places where people gather to soak in the atmosphere and mingle with others. But this Starbucks, like any third place, has problems as a workplace. The coffee’s great and the ambiance is a refreshing break from the office, but this is no place for serious work. There’s little privacy for information on flat screens or in printed material. Holding a conversation is a public event, and the amount of space to work in is limited, at best. There’s a reason it’s a third place, after all.

A better place for work, with its own welcoming ambiance, sits less than a hundred yards away at 12 East Ohio. It’s called Workspring, and it’s specifically designed for knowledge work away from the office. With different workspaces for one or two workers or as many as 25, it offers all the tools and support we expect from a well-considered, thoughtful office, plus many of the comforts of home.

“People look for the right blend of privacy and isolation that’s needed to get work done, but at the same time we want to feel connected to the greater whole. Third places lack territorial privacy, visual privacy, and acoustical privacy, and the tools that collaborative work requires. Workspring is something like a ‘two-point-five’ space: a place for work that combines both community spaces and private work studios. It’s in the middle of a great urban neighbor hood, yet it also has a quiet courtyard right outside. It’s the best of both worlds,” says Frank Graziano, designer for WorkSpace Futures at Steelcase, and part of a venture team that developed Workspring.

Mark Greiner, Steelcase senior vice president and executive sponsor of the Workspring venture, says the space is designed to fully integrate architecture, furniture, and technology to support collaborative, generative work – and it shows. “Everything has a purpose, a story. Everything is intentional. It’s obvious why you can display technology easily, why there’s a café here, why there’s a long space along the windows with pairs of chairs for conversations. People ‘get’ the space right away. We don’t have to tell them.”

A MIX OF OPEN AND PRIVATE SPACES

Workspring’s 4,500 square feet are divided about equally between private studios and communal spaces. The five studios range from 190 to 660 sq. ft., sized for groups of 2 to 6 and up to 25.

Inside are mobile tables at seated or standing height, ergonomic chairs, a built-in tool center with markers, sticky notes and other supplies, digital and analog content capture and display tools, and wireless access. The studio furniture and tools easily reconfigure to the needs of the moment.

Communal spaces begin at the Workspring entry. A long, L-shaped couch and a pair of cubes topped with drawing paper sit opposite the café and a standing height peninsula. A few steps further, a standing height round table anchors the start of a curved wall that bridges the cafe and the walkway to all the studios.

The “forum” [pictured above] is a space with standing height tables and stools, and a curated selection of books and periodicals that represent Steelcase’s brand beliefs, much as a home library expresses what the owner feels. It’s a place to have coffee while waiting for colleagues, hold a small meeting, or look over something from the library.

From here you’re drawn to the “oasis,” a long space that extends north and south along the five studios. Standing height and seated chairs and tables welcome up to four people at different furniture settings along a wall with several sets of French doors that overlook the courtyard. “People walk through here and say, ‘Okay, I get it. This is a great place to walk over when I need to take a call, I can look through the window out over the courtyard, it’s a space with a visual break from the studio and the meeting,” says Greiner.

“Some people might look at all the communal space here and wonder why we didn’t build more rentable rooms,” says Graziano, “but these spaces serve an important purpose: they’re a front porch for each of the studios, places where small groups can collaborate, spaces where all of those important side conversations and spontaneous meetings take place. These interstitial spaces are an extension of the studio based activities.”

The feel of the space straddles the line between home and work. “We hear ‘Zenlike’ a lot, and it’s a good way to put it. We want to provide a safe haven for great work to be done,” says Laate Olukotun, part of the Workspring venture team.

GETTING THE GROUP TOGETHER

Workspring was designed as an alternative not only to public third places, but also to traditional offsite meeting facilities at hotels and conference centers. Rick VanGelderen, principal of InterActive Studio, who designed the Workspring space along with Graziano, recalls a meeting many can relate to.

“We were working on a project in San Antonio. The architect was in Los Angeles, the food service consultant was in Minneapolis, and we were in Michigan. We had to get together, and everyone could get direct to Chicago, but where do we meet? At the airport? The hotel? We ended up at a hotel with a boardroom-like place in a convenient location but not the right kind of facility. “We couldn’t get in early because the room was booked for a breakfast until nine o’clock. The space was typical hotel-conference room décor with draperies all over the place. We wanted to project things so we had to wait for someone to bring in the equipment, which was very expensive. The whole setting was cumbersome, a distraction, and a deterrent to good collaboration. We only had four hours together. We got a lot done, but how much more could we have gotten done without all those issues and distractions? I know the experience would have been much richer in a better space.”

VanGelderen says video conference calls and internet-based meetings are effective, sometimes. “But there’s no replacing eye-to-eye. If you need or expect innovation to happen, you need a high-touch experience. Go to a place where they’ve got the tools and the knowledge and the places that will enable that to happen. You’ve got to bring the knowledge and the people, but the place should help the process.”

BUILDING ON THE PAST

Two workspaces Graziano and VanGelderen worked on in the past helped inform the Workspring space. “Arena Station was a kind of early version of Workspring for our own employees, a two-floor space with meeting rooms and open spaces in a renovated factory building in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan” says Graziano. Too much open space, it turned out. The workspaces were designed in the early 90s just as knowledge work was evolving from individual work to more of a group process. As a result, Arena Station’s more enclosed spaces were preferred by small groups over the larger, more open spaces that were similar to an open coffee shop.

“Even in short term situations, people seek privacy. It’s human nature. Groups expect a certain amount of enclosure, too,” notes Graziano. The Arena Station experience informed the design of the Steelcase University Learning Center in Grand Rapids, a space that presaged Workspring. An old factory space was reborn as a state-of-the- art educational facility with formal and informal learning spaces, including classrooms, breakout and touchdown spaces, a café, and an outdoor courtyard.

The Learning Center is reserved for employees and invited guests. Since opening in 2000, it’s garnered rave reviews from visiting architects, designers, educators, and business executives interested in workspaces that foster learning, collaboration, and innovation. Workspring builds on the shoulders of Arena Station and the Learning Center, “and more than ten years of research we’ve done on environments for cross-functional teams, collaboration, problem-solving, and knowledge sharing,” says Graziano. “It’s a way to put into play that knowledge, this time as a privileged third place that any business can use.”

LOOKING FOR THE “SINGULAR EXPERIENCE”

As work has become more team-oriented and collaborative, worker expectations for the places they work have also changed. The nonprofit International Association of Conference Centers says when it comes to offsite work locations, “more people today consciously seek to gather experiences; it’s central to their notion of quality of life.” As a result, people want “singular experiences, and facilities that deliver those can actually help attendees retain more of what they saw and heard from an in-person meeting; it engages all the senses to create distinct memories.”

Workspring responds to this gestalt with its walk-friendly north side Chicago location, outdoor courtyard, customized services such as healthy meals and snacks and the daily newspaper, and a full-time staff that works to make sure every Workspring guest gets the most out of their workspace. The attention to detail is stunning: studios, for example, have four different light levels, from “arrival” and presentation modes to full on or a soft, warm glow from fixtures mounted along room perimeters. Artwork, flowers, and background music pervade the space.

“Visitors tell us Workspring feels like a spa. We’ve had people come to work here and not want to leave,” says Courtney Williams, head of sales and marketing for Workspring.

“The space is wonderful,” says Carolyn Miller, principal at Interior Architects, Chicago. The firm used Workspring for a staff holiday party and she also attended a book signing here. “We were looking for something a little different, instead of a restaurant. The space is great and it can be used for many things. We have a very critical eye. The space is very well thought-out. It got rave reviews.”

CEOs for Cities, an organization of city leaders from across the U.S., recently booked Workspring for conference breakout sessions, informal meetings, and a formal board meeting. “Breakouts ranged from seven to ten people. The natural light and the courtyard made for a refreshing breakout space,” says Rebecca Eggleston, program director for creative cities. “We had a board meeting in one of the studios. It was more private and that was necessary for board discussions. We also had an informal, open discussion in the entry area. That facilitated a more relaxed and informal dialogue. So the spaces worked well for different reasons.”

Another group of business executives based in Deerfield, a Chicago suburb, recently held their annual department review at Workspring. The last part of the day was set aside to visit some downtown attractions. “You know you’re in a great neighborhood when someone asks for a restaurant recommendation, and you have a plethora to choose from that are within walking distance,” says Faith Hurley, who provides guest services.

PLACE MATTERS TO KNOWLEDGE WORK

Pricing for Workspring is set at $140 per person per session, with studio space, shared spaces, food and beverages, tech services, and office supplies included. Discounts are available for week long sessions and other packages. Bundled pricing appeals to business professionals especially in uncertain economic times because there are no hidden costs and the participants can focus on a productive work session. Workspring can be booked as early as 7:30 AM until 10:30 PM, weekdays.

How can you measure the value of a Workspring engagement? The qualitative nature of knowledge work makes it difficult to apply a pure return on investment (ROI) model. More professionals are using a return on objectives (ROO) approach to measure results against the business objectives of a work session.

In the end, location matters to knowledge work. A generic location will produce generic results. Thoughtful physical surroundings, seamless technology, the ability to easily share and capture information and ideas, private and open spaces, and gracious service centered on supporting the work process, can make all the difference.

“People will continue to work in coffee shops and other places, but this is another choice, a different space that can help change perceptions,” says Graziano. “And if you’re really looking to work together, to co-create and innovate, you need a place you can call your own and get messy.”

More Workspring locations are planned, says Greiner. “It’s a continuous learning experience, reinventing the experience for people in the space. It’s not like a product that you can design and engineer and than repeatedly manufacture. We have to improve each and every day to attract people back.”