Workspaces that move people – 6 Key Take-Aways

 

 

 

smartvillage has already created many workspaces, at our own locations, but also for client projects. In our Munich spaces alone, we’ve welcomed more than 40.000 guests by now. Since our community has given us a lot of feedback over the years, we feel confident enough to share some key insights on how to move people and build emotional connections between everyone using the space. These are our key takeaways:

 

1. Tell your story:

People connect at a deeper level with space and truly stir emotion if they know the story around it. In the best way, the storytelling of your space design fits your overall company vision or your product. In our example, our guests are invited to become a part of the story itself by jumping on board a VW-Bulli and therefore explore the new way of working right at our location.

 

While you travel over the highest peaks of the Alps at the Schwanthalerhöhe location, a road trip through Europe will fascinate you at our second location in Bogenhausen. The VW-Bulli stands for everything that we want to represent: Freedom, flexibility, community spirit – and the desire to do things in a new way. To change the working world as we currently know it.

2. Create a space journey:

Control your journey in the space so that your story will unfold as you intend. A physical narrative is constructed with a beginning, middle, and end. Therefore, our guests start their day at the counter, where they get their tickets for their individual “Roadtrip” and our hospitality team hands over physical “VW-Bulli”-Keys for each room. The first touchpoint already brings our guests into the position of playing an active role – ready to write their own story within our playground.

 

3. Forget about the manifested image of „perfect design“:

Our colorful and sometimes “imperfect-perfect” design is the result of a constant process of reusing materials, upcycling furniture or integrating old stock that would have been thrown away. Perhaps we all need to move away from the manifested image of “perfect design” if that prevents us from finding creative solutions to keep them in the circle, to be more sustainable. People are going to be fascinated by the stories behind the materials, furniture items, and outfitters involved. Because that’s what adds character to your space.

 

„Everyone knows it. When you walk into a perfectly styled designer apartment or are in a furniture store, you may be fascinated by how well the design elements work with each other, but often we just don’t feel at ease, let alone feel „at home“. It is not tangible. Does not bear any flaws, and therefore no character. So that’s what we need to open up for.“

4. Involve personality

Personal touches, small details, self-made signs, etc. will be added little by little and will shape the space’s personality slowly but surely. Looking back to our beginnings, the team, employees, and our guests definitely contributed with small pieces to a natural „community“ feeling, where nobody feels like a „me“, but everybody feels like a „we“.

 

Everybody’s a contributor to a collective whole and therefore has the chance to find identification. Open yourself to it, encourage people to participate, and give yourself some time! Not everything stands from the very beginning.

 

5. Involve art & local networks:

Art brings some extra drive and emotions into your space. Support your local art network or make a collective project out of it. It will be 100% more inspiring, than wallpapers or wall tattoos that can be ordered online. At smartvillage Bogenhausen, we have some beautiful art on our 14 columns as well as a permanent gallery of individual artists at smartvillage Schwanthalerhöhe.

6. Integrate nature:

“Biophilic design” (the scientific term behind integrating nature indoors) isn’t just about aesthetics, it can be essential for our happiness and wellbeing. Studies show that directly accessing nature can alleviate feelings of stress and enable better focus, as well as increase mental stamina and productivity. With THE EVERGREEN CONCEPT – a sustainable design concept realized in our workshop room Berghain– we’re integrating natural materials regularly so that people are invited to see, feel smell, and experience.

 

Eventually, it’s moving people. And that’s what we’re all aiming for, isn’t it?