BAUHAUS.INSIGHTS: A Place for Ideas – The Co-Working Space at the University Library
Co-working spaces are more than a short-lived trend – they are changing the way we learn and work. These spaces are particularly popular thanks to the fact that they support networking between different fields and offer a flexible and inspiring environment for productive work. Since June 2024, our university has been home to a space that can be used by students and instructors in various creative ways, for instance for seminars and workshops. The project is the result of collaboration between the University Library, the Presidium, University Strategic Development Office, the Service Centre for Facility Management, and the StuKo (Student Government).
For our BAUHAUS.INSIGHTS series, we spoke with Andreas Wolter. The designer and graduate of the »MediaArchitecture« Master's degree programme has been working at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar’s University Strategic Development Office since 2022 and is responsible for project conception and design. He not only played a key role in developing the co-working space, he also designed and made the furniture — flexible tables and chairs — himself. In this interview, Andreas Wolter shares what makes the co-working space in the University Library special and whether more of these new workspaces are planned.
Mr. Wolter, the library already has »traditional« workspaces where students can study and work together. What makes this new space different from the existing spaces and what will it change?
Generally speaking, Weimar has a phenomenal library infrastructure for the size of the city. And yes, it’s true that the University Library already offers numerous and, in my opinion, very nice workspaces in its buildings. The carrels are especially impressive in how they were integrated into the new building and allow for collaborative working. Because of the high demand for this type of space, we created additional carrels in the Limona. This means that there are now spaces for both quiet, concentrated work and for loud, collaborative work.
Despite the variety of available spaces, the carrels are often fully booked due to their popularity and require advanced scheduling since they have to be booked through a booking system. This system isn’t bad, but it reflects the general intention of these spaces: To work either alone or together during a scheduled time, which sometimes have to be booked weeks in advance, and to keep your work materials in a secure location for a short period of time. The long-term booking schedule makes it difficult to use the carrels spontaneously. This is where the new co-working space comes in, closing the gap by offering a flexible alternative for shorter and more spontaneous work phases.
The co-working space is perfect for spontaneous meetings, quickly answering e-mails and phone calls, or getting together in larger groups. It offers a flexible solution for all those »in-between« situations. Allowing them to be handled in an »in-between« space. Users are of course welcome to stay and work in the space for longer periods. An additional advantage of the co-working space is its availability to all library patrons. This means that university staff who might not have access to the carrels can also use this space. It can also be used by conference attendees or those participating in events held in the Audimax who may not want to use the library’s reading rooms for a brief work session. School groups have even used the space before visiting the library and the Presidium, represented by Dr. Simon Frisch, has held several meetings with the faculties there.
You not only worked on designing the space, you also planned and built the matching furniture. What did you pay particular attention to when you were designing the space, especially the tables and chairs? What influenced your design process?
When designing the new space, one aspect was at the forefront of the process that may not be obvious at first and may seem unusual: fire safety. In the meetings with the various institutions, departments and committees involved in the project, we had a clear goal: to create an innovative working and learning environment. However, we were quickly confronted with the question of how to implement the space with the existing escape routes. Although the space in front of the Audimax is spacious, the escape routes must be strictly adhered to.
A creative solution was needed. I suggested visually marking the area that could be furnished and used for events in order to create a »space within a space«. A corresponding sign would let users know that the furniture could be arranged flexibly but must remain within this marked area. We are confident that users will cooperate as this is essential in order to meet the aforementioned fire safety regulations.
As this area is multi-purpose, being used for example for catering at events or small exhibitions, it was clear from the outset that the furniture had to be flexible and easy to move. At earlier events, I had noticed that discarded folding office tables were being covered with table cloths and used provisionally. For sustainability purposes, I decided to reuse the folding table frames and outfit them with new, more stable and appealing wooden table tops. In order to make it easier for the building caretakers set up and dismantle the tables, I added an additional option that allows the tables to be easily transported using grip holes and casters once they have been folded down. A colleague who is a passionate chess player came up with the idea to print gameboards onto the table surfaces, providing an opportunity to play games like chess, backgammon and Go — in keeping with the tradition of old coffee houses. In the near future, patrons will be able to borrow chess sets from the library in the same way they might borrow books.
The co-working space is intended to be used for short-term work, so we decided to use stools instead of chairs in our design. They are more flexible and can be stored away more easily to make space. When designing the stools, it was important to me that they were both modular and easily stored away. The resulting design is stools that can be pushed together to form a bench and, with the addition of a trolley, can be stacked vertically, allowing them to be stored in a small space.
The co-working space has been available for everyone to use for over a month now; how has the space been received so far, and have you gotten any feedback or suggestions for improvement from students or instructors?
In the first few weeks after it opened, I visited the new co-working space nearly every day to see how it was being used and which furniture combinations were most popular. I’m happy to say that I was never alone there. It was great to see how the space was accepted from day one and that it’s still being consistently used today. I’m especially impressed with how tidy users have been with the furniture. So far, none of the furniture has »wandered« outside the designated area, clearly indicating that the guidelines are being respected.
Feedback from users has so far been positive. The only wish that has been expressed is for more electrical outlets. I would also have liked to have more permanent outlets, but this just isn’t feasible due to the flexible arrangement of the tables. Outlets on the tables would require cables, which could create dangerous tripping hazards. In order to offer a solution to this issue, I worked with the Service Centre for Facility Management to install an additional power source nearby; this allowed us to install another outlet next to the thoska machine quite quickly.
To this extent, we see the experiment as a success. Even if unexpected challenges come up, that’s normal in processes where new concepts are introduced or existing structures are transformed.
To wrap up, some final thoughts: What does the future look like for the co-working space, and are there any plans for creating similar spaces at the university?
The notice board for the co-working space has the following sentence on it: »If successful, we plan to provide additional work spaces at the university.« And this is precisely our goal. For the time being, the project team hopes to establish this space as a prototype, but there are already more plans being developed. We’re considering, for example, expanding the current capacity of the computer pool in the University Library.
My colleagues and I are also working on developing learning and teaching spaces as part of the University Strategic Development Office’s »Lernraum Bauhaus« and »LeerRaum Bauhaus« projects. While the »Lernraum Bauhaus« project focuses on hybrid learning scenarios, the »LeerRaum Bauhaus« project has us analysing classrooms in order to develop alternative concepts. In order to support the collaborative development of various spaces at the university, we are in close contact with the faculties.
I myself find that it’s important, particularly in light of the social gap that is was created by the pandemic and is still being experienced, to establish more spaces for communal living and working.
Mr. Wolter, thank you for the interview.
The BAUHAUS.INSIGHTS questions on the new co-working space in the University Library were asked by Luise Ziegler.