With the help of our painter, Ski and our lighting guy Eric, we were able to get a fresh coat of paint on the walls with energetic colors that give the space some personality and a cohesive look and feel.

New track lighting was installed which gives us more control over each work zone and the option to direct more light into active areas. Here are a few photos of our new digs. Hope you can stop by to enjoy the new space!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1jqyCPf-gg

This is the first of many videos John and I will be doing to keep you updated as we grow The Green House Empire. Thanks to everyone who has shown us support so far. Happy Thanksgiving. – Doc & John

There are many things to take into consideration when designing a space from the ground up. Based on initial community discussions and with research and notes from various sources, we’ve determined a few zones that might work in a space like The Green House:

A Coworking space could serve as:

• “Coworking Space” to serve remote workers, independent coders and designers, and entrepreneurs in need of desks, Internet access, and basic business infrastructure
• “Hackerspace” to serve makers, builders, and coders seeking peer-to-peer education, collaboration, tool sharing, and facilities for fabrication and construction
• “Media Space” to serve independent artists and content producers seeking video and audio setups and other infrastructure for recording, editing, and distribution
• “Learning Lab” for students from independent, charter, or home school environments to engage in extracurricular STEM and media activities otherwise not available to them
• “Sustainability Lab” to demonstrate technologies including renewable energy, recycling, aquaponics, and other eco-friendly practices Physical spaces within the building can be configured as hot desks for blogging or programming to live sets for recording audio podcasts and video segments for Internet broadcast.

Possible facility highlights include:

• Coworking Space — Basic hotdesk/telecenter area
• Meeting/Teleconference Space — Meeting rooms with telepresence equipment
• Presentation/Teaching Space — Basic classroom/lecture setup
• Audio Space — Soundproofed studio with support for recording, mixing, editing
• Video Space — Adaptable studio or set with green screen for recording and editing
• Workshop — Large space with power and tools for building or fabricating
• Gallery Space — For exhibits, demonstrations, performances, and community events

With these spaces in mind, we’ve started working with Turnstone after meeting their team in Austin at SXSW. Here are some of our draft ideas.

Turnstone and our space designer Michelle Allard have been doing an amazing job with what we’ve given them. We’re currently toying with the idea of building in a loft space to add depth and makes a better use of the space in the back of the building.

Loft space also enables us to create separate edit bays or office spaces that members can use or book for recordings or commercial video spot editing.

The Green House would include space for heads down programming work along with a buzzing atmosphere of news creation, blogging, video and photo shoots and develop platforms.

Turnstone’s line of furniture is clean, modern and ergonomic in design. Available in a variety of different color palettes that spark inspiration with a splash of color for any office. A contrast between a more organic and raw finish of the warehouse space will create an interesting and inspiring place to get work done.

Turnstone furniture design

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"Speed dating" environment

There’s still lot’s of work to be done with contractors (we’re looking for a good architect, interior designer and/or space planning pros — know some? Contact us!) and we would love your feedback on what you would like to see in The Green House!

As usual, this website was started at midnight the night before launch but it feels good to finally tell you all about our project, The Green House.

What started as a conversation at Unconferenz, has since evolved into a movement that Hawaii seems to be embracing nicely. I have a lot to share with you — where should I begin?

This website will be used as a way to share our progress with you during the build-out of The Green House, a coworking space and innovation hub project in the heart of Kaka’ako. In the last two months, with the help of Kamehameha Schools, we’ve been able to take baby steps towards a partnership to secure a space that could be cleared and made into a shared workspace for a variety of creatives from the technology, social, news, design and application development fields.

A hub like The Green House could serve as a nice addition to Honolulu’s already growing coworking ecosystem, joining the likes of The Box Jelly and a project called R&D by the find folks at Interisland Terminal.

I’ll be posting updates as they happen here and would love your comments, feedback and link love! Please feel free to share these ideas and progress with your friends, family or anyone you feel would enjoy a space like The Green House. Stay tuned for the next update and please bear with me as I flesh the site out a bit.

Thanks for your patience and mahalo for your support!

Rechung Fujihira and his team of dynamic business majors were able to pivot from an original idea and launch a space called “The Box Jelly,” dedicated to integrating the social experience with a variety of talents and skill sets.

We caught up with The Box Jelly team to learn more about their business venture and how they plan to revolutionize the modern workspace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLpGqhYJzBI

How do you work daily? Are you in an office, or do you currently work in a coworking environment? We want to hear from you!

Leave your comments and tell us how you would improve your current work situation?

Coworking is defined by Wikipedia as “a style of work which involves a shared working environment, sometimes an office, yet independent activity.” It’s a social gathering of independent workers who share values and are often in the same or parallel industries.

Coworking spaces help to ease the financial burden of finding a standalone working space and offer added social and collaborative benefits that you’ll be hard-pressed to find while working at your bustling neighborhood coffee shop.

A small group of determined individuals hope to make coworking a reality for Hawaii’s tech, social and creative community through an effort to identify potential spaces, partner with nearby businesses and infuse creative energy into neighborhood redevelopments.

Coworking in a nutshell

In 1999, Bernie DeKoven coined the term “coworking,” and as early as 2005, physical spaces were popping up in areas throughout the West Coast.

Today, over 400 coworking spaces exist worldwide, spanning six continents and bridging the gap between multiple industries. Popular coworking spaces in San Francisco include pariSoma Innovation Loft, HubSoMa, and Citizen Space. Coworking has also spread into many other metropolitan areas, with cities such as Portland and Austin now offering several thriving coworking venues.

Coming together in Austin

On a recent trip to Austin for the annual SXSW Interactive conference — a mecca for networking, socializing and think tank sessions — we discovered a surge of information that would enable us to take one step closer to making coworking a reality in Hawaii.

Coworking spaces were peppered throughout the city of Austin, and attendees could book a variety of different spaces, including a meet space, mingle space and escape space.

Each room offered a different mood, feeling and purpose and helped catalyze ideas for effective and meaningful collaboration. Along the way, we met with Nick Kislinger, CEO of The Hub LA, and was inspired by his efforts to connect, empower, and resource Angelenos working to create positive change in the world.

A new way to work in Hawaii

Local efforts to get coworking started in Hawaii have been simmering for years. The CoworkingHonolulu page at the Coworking Wiki slowly gathered names since it was set up in 2008. Over on the tech community site TechHui, the Coworking group covered sporadic activity, including a Jelly casual coworking group in 2009 and the launch of Resource Suites last year.

A group called HI Capacity recently started meeting with ideas on how to grow a budding group of “makers,” interested in tinkering with circuitry, programming and widget making. Separately, a group of business graduates began developing 0penSource, which called for an open space in the Ward area to unite entrepreneurs, independents, freelancers, contractors, consultants, artists, designers, techies and everyone in between.

Larger corporations are also paying attention to the movement, realizing the residual value that a creative incubator can bring to a growing neighborhood and surrounding businesses. Meanwhile, in the arts world, there are already active spaces in Chinatown bringing a variety of mixed-media creatives together under one roof.

So after a promising session focused on launching a creative space at the Unconferenz in February, a diverse group from tech, multimedia, and education recently converged in Kaka’ako to take a walking tour of the area and share ideas about its future. Leading the group was Christian O’Connor, senior asset manager for Kakaako with Kamehameha Schools’ commercial real estate division.

During the walk, Rechung Fujihira, “The Enzyme” behind local coworking effort 0penSource, shared his team’s vision for a space they’re hoping to open soon. The Nonstop Tech team was also there to spill our thoughts about coworking and where it could take the industry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wajBtgBmUYA

All in all, we’re jazzed about the opportunity of coworking in the islands and hope to see it come to life. What do you think about the coworking movement? Have you ever been in a coworking space or are you currently working at one? We’d love to hear from you!

Coworking links and resources:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coworking
• www.thehubla.com
• www.0pensource.com
• www.DeskMag.com