In recent years, Austria has seen an ongoing increase in the number of coworking spaces in its biggest cities, such as Sektor5 and HUB Vienna in the capital, the Managerie (Graz) and Coworking Salzburg, to name but a few. To outsiders, the idea of cramming an office with a bunch of desks, a kitchen, and a football table may already seem like an alien concept. But there seems to be more to it than just providing its renters with a workplace and the infrastructure to develop their ideas, make connections, and network. So, what else can a coworking space offer, how does it serve people’s needs, and what has motivated them to go there in the first place?
A view of the 360-panorama that websafari created for Coworking SalzburgThese are only few of the questions Austrian startup websafari aims to answer in its strive to create a feel for the environment and atmosphere of coworking spaces. Specialised in creating websites and applications, the startup that recently relocated part of its team from Klagenfurt to Vienna has now developed a pilot project to recreate this feeling through a 360-panorama website for Coworking Salzburg’s first anniversary. The platform provides an inside view of the shared office space founded by Romy Sigl (see our profile of her here), and an interactive way of getting to know the people who work there. For a closer look, click here.
Introducing the world of coworking
The philosophy behind the project is to enable outside people to get to know the coworking space inside out. Video interviews of about two minutes aim to introduce the people who use the space by asking them the same series of questions. These refer to the interviewees’ own interests, goals, and motivations, among others. By introducing such individual characters, websafari strives to create a composite image of the space, as CEO Philipp Albrecht told inventures.eu. Of course, he hopes that other coworking spaces would want to embrace the concept, too.
CEO Philipp Albrecht Photo credit: Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/websafari/photos_streamOn the technical side, Albrecht said that the project took a full six months to complete. He partnered closely with fellow websafari member Peter Grassberger, who worked on the technical front, and wrote “some several thousand lines of code.”
In this project as well as generally, Albrecht is interested in people’s stories of how they got to the place they are today, and how they fit in it. As a matter of fact, websafari was born out of a similar concept – in 2009, Albrecht was looking for a work environment to fit in when he decided to create one himself. Today, websafari is a team ofeight goes by the motto of offering its employees a “workplace that everybody loves.”
