Want to Shake Up Your Work Day? Try Coworking in a Tree
DailyGood
BY CAT JOHNSON
Syndicated from shareable.net, Aug 29, 2015


 

TreeXOffice is designed to give back to the trees. Photo: Groundwork London

Coworking is all the rage these days, with spaces popping up faster than one can keep track of. And within the growing coworking movement, there is something for everyone. There are coworking spaces that double as climbing gyms, coworking spaces for artists, coworking spaces in houses, and now, coworking spaces in trees.

Dubbed TreeXOffice, the project brings together six to eight people at a time to work in the canopy of a tree. Theoriginal TreeXOffice was a temporary space in Socrates Sculpture Park in New York City. Now, a second space has popped up in London’s Hoxton Square. It will be there through mid-December. Beyond providing the pleasant experience of working in a wi-fi enabled tree, TreeXOffice is designed to give back to the tree and the surrounding green space.

“The profits from the tree are spent in the interest of the tree," artist, engineer, and New York University professor Natalie Jeremijenko, who designed TreeXOffice told Fast Company. "By making it specifically about the tree, and the kind of revenue that the tree can generate, we're really exploring a larger political discussion of what are the rights of nature.”

Trees have important jobs such as improving air quality and sequestering carbon, but there is not much value placed on them, or returned to them. With TreeXOffice, Jeremijenko can change that. The temporary TreeXOffice she created in New York brought in $1,000 a month with 25 people each paying $40 membership fees. All the profits were spent on improving the surroundings of the tree. Jeremijenko plans to do the same in London where TreeXOffice rates range from £15 for a workspace for a half day, to £120 to rent the entire space for a half day. Community groups can use the space on the weekends for free.

 

This article was printed with permission of Shareable -- an online magazine that tells the story of sharing that covers people, places, and projects bringing a shareable world to life.

The author, Cat Johnson, is a freelance writer focused on community, the commons, sharing, collaboration and music. Publications include Utne Reader, GOOD, Yes! Magazine, Shareable, Triple Pundit and Lifehacker.

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