Co-Working Space Concept in the Spatial and Urban Context: A Case Study of ‘Kolektif House

Abstract

The concept of ‘Work’ and ‘Workplace’ started to change in recent decades in parallel with developments in information and communication Technologies. New ways of working have been defined as flexible, mobile and multi-locational. Co-working spaces have emerged worldwide as a new type of workspace concept. These places offer a flexible and appropriate work environment with various usage options. The aim of the study is to define the characteristics and development of the co-working space concept and analyzing the urban and spatial context as well as design criteria, the spatial solution, material and furniture selection of the selected case. In this study the case of ‘Kolektif House’ a co-working space, in Levent district in İstanbul has been selected, as the location can be defined as the central commercial district of the city. The space is created by refunctioning a part of an old factory-building which is evaluated as a sustainable devolepment project. The data used in this study is based on architectural drawings, visual materials, interviews, observations, as well as a literature review. The study demonstrates that changing work habits and user needs created new types of working place and in the selected case the created value in urban and spatial context by re-functioning an existed building was found to be positive.