WeWork Making too Much Noise

We got word that WeWork is making too much noise, literally…and also metaphorically.

The coworking magnate has received some noise complaints from members in its NoMad, New York location.

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Thread on WeWork’s internal social platform

Though we all appreciate big windows and natural sunlight, WeWork might’ve forgotten to think about sound and noise when making office design decisions. This is what we gather from the complaint, which blames the amount of glass in the space as the culprit for generating more noise than necessary.

Unfortunately, NoMad isn’t the only WeWork location suffering from this evil. Comments in the thread state that WeWork’s Berkley location, as well as Fort Point in Boston also have had some noise issues.

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To be fair, however, this is an issue that’s affecting many coworking spaces.

Noise has been a topic of debate surrounding the industry ever since the open-space designs became the norm when designing coworking spaces.

While we’ve seen architects, designers, and workers in favor of this trend defending that noise can be managed through material use and layout, we’ve also had several warn us against much too open spaces.

Regardless of which side you’re on, the fact remains that it’s an issue that many are having to address and emerging operators should learn from these situations.

Coworking is booming: more people in coworking spaces = higher noise levels, and operators will need to ensure that noise levels will not prevent clients from successfully working.

Unfortunately, if you’re a WeWork member, ensuring noise levels don’t distract or bother you will be up to you.

From the comments we can deduce that WeWork is going to give you some suggestions on how to deal with this, but they’re not going to take care of it for you (at least–we think–they won’t be redesigning anytime soon).  

As for the other type of noise, WeWork has been buzzing in the news over for several weeks now.

They’re raising $750 million in debt financing and they displaced an anti-eviction group to make room for more startups in their space. Rumor also has it that they might have their eyes set on Shanghai, that they’re expanding in Downtown Brooklyn, that they took 110,000 sq. feet from Colgate to increase their space in NYC, and that they’re conquering London by adding another 1 million sq. ft. to its portfolio with locations on City Road, Waterhouse Square, and Docklands.

So not all noise is bad noise, right?

Headlines mentioned from Business Insider, the Real Deal, Workplace Insight, and Commercial Observer.