Baillargues Town Council
A publicly run coworking space, designed for the town's residents and businesses.
Coworking at the scale of a town.
The council wanted to offer local freelancers, remote workers and young businesses a good place to work without having to commute into Montpellier every morning.
The brief combines shared desks, private offices, a meeting room and a break area, inside an existing municipal building.
Comfort and conviviality, equally weighted.
The workstations are ergonomic and adjustable, with lighting and acoustics taken seriously: people spend whole days here, not an hour in passing.
The break area, brighter in colour, plays the part of the village square: it is where people who do not work together but share the same place cross paths.
Project summary
Ergonomics and desk comfort
Adjustable seating, height-variable work surfaces, supports for standing postures. We size workstations around the hours actually spent in front of a screen, not around an average standard.
Acoustics and light
Noise and glare are the two most common complaints in open-plan offices. Absorbent panels, screens, booths and desk orientation are dealt with at plan stage, not added afterwards.
Modular furniture
Tables that fold and join together, movable partitions, seating that can be shifted: a floor plate should be able to change configuration in an hour, without technical help.
Integrated technology
Screens, video conferencing, room booking, lighting control: equipment is planned into the furniture and the services, to avoid extension leads and boxes stuck on as an afterthought.
Break and wellbeing spaces
Kitchen areas, lounges, quiet break spaces, outdoor zones where the site allows. These places, more than the desks, are what make people want to come back to the office.
Reuse and durability
Some of the existing furniture can often be reused after refurbishment. We favour French and European manufacturers, repairable pieces and take-back schemes for whatever cannot stay.