Designing Coworking Spaces that Tell a Story

Coworking maven, Cat Johnson, once said: “Storytelling is one of the best ways to connect with your community and potential members.” A coworking space can tell a story, engage with, and celebrate its community, reflecting values and personalities, that inspire at a wider level. While operators often focus on storytelling through marketing and operations, they may overlook the impact of interior design and architecture. This article explores the art of storytelling through the lens of workspace design. 

Celebrating heritage and culturally significant buildings

There’s no better setting for a vibrant coworking space than in a heritage building. In fact, repurposing existing structures is not only better for the environment than building from the ground up (with the process being less energy-intensive), but these properties can truly root a workspace in its surroundings, and connect with local communities. 

It’s also described as “‘adaptive reuse – whereby an existing building is reused for a purpose other than for which it was originally built or designed,” according to an article published by the Flexible Space Association. 

Take Clockwise Bromley as an example – a workspace in a Grade-II listed former Town Hall in the heart of London’s Bromley neighbourhood. As part of the £20 million reconstruction process that led to Clockwise Bromley's opening last year, great consideration was taken to preserve its historic features, including the “fluted concrete columns, stained-glass windows, and vaulted doors.” 

Locating the restaurant (the multi-functional building has a workspace, boutique hotel, and F&B offering) in the old courthouse spins its original use as a municipal building on its head, opening it up for public use and commercial activities. 

‘Recycling historic buildings breathes new life and possibilities into them,’ explains the Flexible Space Association article. “A workplace that inspires and offers something different from the generic office supply has become an important recruitment tool,” attracting businesses whose values align with cultural heritage. 

For instance, Apple (a brand synonymously linked to innovation and design), opened its new London headquarters earlier this year in Battersea Power Station – a landmark building and symbol of Britain’s industrial heritage, which was painstakingly restored to its former glory over a period of several years. Now, Battersea Power Station houses a shopping mall for public use and luxury residential properties alongside office space. 

“Creating personality rich designs”

Like Apple felt Battersea Power Station would be an appropriate location, reflecting its company culture, the power of workspace design can align with values and brand. Another example is The Ministry (a Nexudus customer) – which opened a coworking space in 2018 in a former disused bus garage, where its old bones are reflected in the exposed columns and bare brick walls. 

The Ministry workspace was launched to house its community of ravers who danced the night away at its accompanying Ministry of Sound venue next door (the nightclub launched in 1991). “The people we grew up with are now the founders and CEOs of start-ups and established businesses,” said its chairman Lohan Presencer in 2018. “The Ministry is for these people – independent creatives who light the sparks that become cultural wildfires.” Certainly, the workspace design subtly nods to its dance club counterpart, with a sign being the melting disco ball hanging above the exterior entrance. 

The Ministry probably exemplifies what interior designer and founder of IAMDC, Dean Connell, coined “personality rich designs” at the recent GCUC UK London conference. He mentioned how storytelling through workspace design is like when you’re staging your own home – you’ll curate with furniture and artwork that reflects your personality and life story, such as travelling experiences. Curating a “home away from home” takes time, but the result facilitates much deeper human connection and social interaction than sourcing objects just for the sake of it.

Dean was involved in designing the Knotel ‘workclub’ in Farringdon’s Old Sessions House. Like Clockwise Bromley, Old Sessions was once a courthouse, (at one point it was the nation’s largest), although its history goes slightly further back than the early-twentieth-century Bromley Town Hall. Old Sessions was even mentioned in Charles Dicken’s famous novel, Oliver Twist.  

In its current state, the interior design can be described as a modern twist – peeling plastered walls exposing the layers of its past, and comfortable seating nooks are curated carefully with vases, coffee table books, and artwork. The impressive staircase greets visitors as soon as they walk through the door, harking back to its former use. Old Sessions opens during the annual Clerkenwell Design Week to inspire designers and architects. 

Placemaking that tells a more contemporary story

A coworking space can’t always be located in a beautiful old building, and many operators simply don’t have the financial resources to restore a historic building to life. Nonetheless, there are still many ways to celebrate a building and its community through workspace design and placemaking. 

Previously one of WeWork’s first interior designers, Dean worked with the design team during the company’s worldwide expansion and applied a “glocal” approach – combining a local point of view to suit a global, more mainstream audience. For instance, they worked with local people in Japan to implement design features indicative of its culture, such as desks representative of the sunken kotatsu (low tables). 

Dean recommends “immersing everyone in the process,” which is a vital part of placemaking –  a process inviting participation from stakeholders, including space users and the local community. This design framework typically begins by looking at a site, its historic uses, cultural significance, and the identities of local communities, to create a purposeful outcome and useful space. 

Some spaces invite artists to a space to share that story through a visual medium. Working with local artists who engage with communities is known as co-design practice or socially engaged art, and it strengthens a sense of belonging to a place. For instance, the holistic restoration process at Cummari House – a coliving and coworking space for women in Sicily – involved “collaborating with local artisans to create bespoke pieces of furniture and painted murals.” In this way, its cultural relevance was shared with visitors and locals, connecting all who used it to the building. 

The art of storytelling through design

Telling stories through workspace design is more than just about aesthetics. When a space feels intentional and imbued with meaning, it transforms into a place where connections flourish, creativity thrives, and communities find their voice. Whether it’s a heritage building or a more contemporary coworking space, communities are invited to experience spaces not only as environments but as living tales with purpose, which deeply connects people with places.  

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