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I think “fun” is maybe a bad descriptor of the WeWork aesthetic. Take a look at Office Space, that sort of sterile, glaring white environment was the norm for

I think “fun” is maybe a bad descriptor of the WeWork aesthetic. Take a look at Office Space, that sort of sterile, glaring white environment was the norm for offices right up to the new millennium. Yes, WeWork has some goofy themes (I had the misfortune of one that took Coney Island as an inspiration, so there were scattered silhouettes of Ferris wheels here and there), but at its core was warm, dark walls that were easy on the eyes, generally good interior design, and people who actually wanted to be at their jobs. I didn’t love it, but far from the worst place I ever had to work. And once in a while I still drop by an authentic Manhattan office building, and it is like stepping back into the eighties. It’s no wonder jumping off buildings was so popular among stockbrokers…

trgn 4y ago
The aesthetic has a name, "resimercial". Agreed that "fun" doesn't quite capture it, even though often times the arcade machine and corn hole boards give that inmpression. I think tbh wework's vibe works quite well for temporary office/flex-space, low cost of entry. The fact that everybody is somewhat of a transient at a wework creates its own cohesion too. e.g. I rented office space at a "real" office building once, and it was just weird for some rando telecommuter to share space with more established companies in more local industries. ymmv, but they did create something "new", or at least a niche office offering is now an established fixture in most metros.
ben7799 4y ago
This really didn't take off till closer to 2010. There might have been outliers at places like Google and Facebook in the 2000s but it didn't start exploding till after 2010 when all the more traditional companies started thinking they needed to be like Google and Facebook. Lots of boring offices got rehabbed into "culture" offices around 2010-2012, even if it was financially irresponsible. There was huge talk that it was required to have any chance of hiring millennials at the time.

trgn 4y ago

The aesthetic has a name, "resimercial". Agreed that "fun" doesn't quite capture it, even though often times the arcade machine and corn hole boards give that inmpression. I think tbh wework's vibe works quite well for temporary office/flex-space, low cost of entry. The fact that everybody is somewhat of a transient at a wework creates its own cohesion too. e.g. I rented office space at a "real" office building once, and it was just weird for some rando telecommuter to share space with more established companies in more local industries. ymmv, but they did create something "new", or at least a niche office offering is now an established fixture in most metros.

ben7799 4y ago

This really didn't take off till closer to 2010. There might have been outliers at places like Google and Facebook in the 2000s but it didn't start exploding till after 2010 when all the more traditional companies started thinking they needed to be like Google and Facebook. Lots of boring offices got rehabbed into "culture" offices around 2010-2012, even if it was financially irresponsible. There was huge talk that it was required to have any chance of hiring millennials at the time.