Creating a more inclusive coworking hub for Start it @KBC and Start it X

Start it @KBC is the only no-strings-attached startup accelerator in Belgium. This means startup founders don't have to pay any money or equity to follow their 1-year acceleration program and work from one of the 7 co-working hubs in the country. This enticing promise has already attracted 1500 founders from more than 30 industries, and every year hundreds of new startups apply.

Drawing from the experience accumulated coaching 750+ startups, Start it also launched Start it X to help corporates innovate more & better, and boost intrapreneurship. The members of the program have access to the same co-working hubs as startups, which creates interesting synergies.

Redesigned by Space Refinery in 2020, Start it and Start it X's new coworking hub in Antwerp leaves no one indifferent. Liesbeth Van der Jonckheyd, Customer Journey Officer at Start it, tells us: "I keep getting OOOHs and AAAHs and WAUWs from visitors and startups".

One of the visitors even reached out to us directly to congratulate the design team: "Impressed with your design. Smart, functional, cool."

In this new space, geeks hang out with fashionistas on the terrace, founders bring their dog and baby to work, energy is high, and the whole place is vibing at the rhythm of interactions between people.

That's not just the product of chance. Here's the story behind this success.

How everything started

Lode Uytterschaut, founder of both Start it and Start it X, is very close to the founders that join the program. He always wants to know if their needs are continuously met as they grow.

He and his team made some key observations that led to this project:

1. There's a crucial need for more female founders in the startup world (and female leaders generally speaking). This calls for physical spaces that are designed to be more inclusive.
2. Approximately 80% of the startups who join the acceleration program are already selling to customers. They need a work environment that looks professional and gives them credibility.
3. Every year, more startups are applying to join the program, so more space is needed (maximizing people density in a work environment is rarely a good idea).

Space Refinery appeared to be the ideal partner for the project - specializing in workspace design & build, with a unique ability to make people feel at home in their spaces, and a female-led, diverse team.

Finding solutions

To kick off the collaboration, we organized research with Start it & Start it X. The objective of this information-gathering phase was to get to know the end-users of the future space, understand their needs & preferences, and identify all the limitations we'd have to work with.

In the survey we circulated, the founders pointed out the poor variety of settings to choose from (in the old hub). Only 3 activities were supported: working in the open space, meeting in a meeting room, or eating in the cafeteria. And none of them was supported in an ideal way.

The fully open space didn't have any quiet areas, so noise was a big issue. Anytime someone would pick up a phone call, they'd stay at their desk and disturb their neighbors, or walk around to look for a better spot and disturb everyone. Besides acoustical challenges, the lack of division in the space was creating visual distractions. With dozens of people in your line of sight, there's always something moving and it makes it hard to focus.

The meeting rooms were far from perfect - not enough power outlets, sometimes no seating elements, bad acoustics. Some survey respondents also told us, the lunch area was impractical, and that there weren't enough areas dedicated to non-work activities.

The research helped us to identify another issue, slightly more abstract. Despite the open-plan, startups weren't interacting a lot. There weren't enough spontaneous run-ins resulting in idea-sparking conversations, and founders were missing that.

On the other side, the view over the Schelde river was really appreciated. Founders also loved having a small space dedicated to their team, that they wouldn't need to share with other companies.

To close this research phase, we created a brief to summarize all the needs and grouped them into 3 categories: the company's needs (Start it and Start it X), the community's (all the members + the local team operating the hub), and key personas representing the diversity of profiles that join the program and use the hub daily.

The result

Our design team started with the basics: enabling individual, focused work. Because in order to grow, startups just need to get stuff done. So we moved the noise away from people’s desks.

We created 10 booths dedicated to phone & video calls for 1 or 2 people, spread across the space. We also integrated 12 meeting rooms with a capacity of 3 to 10 people. Another 8 pods were added to the floor plan to allow people to do focused work away from the open space.

To offer different settings depending on the needs, some meeting rooms and pods have high seating. Standing meetings are often shorter, making them a popular option in the startup world.

The entire layout breaks the floor into smaller subdivisions, reducing the level of noise thanks to the added walls & partitions.

Then we focused on what complements individual productivity - stimulating creativity, increasing flexibility, and fostering interactions.

We made sure the cafeteria would be large enough for everyone. It now accommodates 50+ people inside and a few dozens on the terrace.

The whole space is built around a central (rectangle) O-shaped circulation area surrounding the elevators, staircases, and bathrooms at the core. Informal and lounge areas were strategically added at the top, bottom, and both sides of the O. Centralizing circulation means creating opportunities to bump into other people, and creating lounge areas encourages to stop and chat without disturbing other people in the spaces dedicated to work.

All these layers are tied together by a unifying design concept: nature as a source of inspiration. Ecosystems aka strategic partnerships, evolution aka A/B testing, reinvention aka pivoting, are strategies developed by nature that are also used by startups. Some mind-blowing living organisms also gave their name to meeting rooms: tardigrade (it can survive in space), blob (a very smart yellow “mushroom”), bat (the only mammal that can fly).

What people say about the space

“I had my onboarding online but as soon as I received my badge I went to the hub. All these nice offices and meeting rooms motivate me to work.” - Luka Bresseel, OKONO

“We’re now able to organize workshops in a room designed specifically for that. We also have a nice cafeteria where we can all eat together. And then we have the zen space that can be used for many things: intimate conversations between employees and founders, coachings, naps, etc.” - Lode Uytterschaut, Start it @KBC

“I arrived here, walked around the hub, and I was immediately hooked - it ticked every single box you need for a good office. This space allows us to really be together, and I think it changes us from being employees to being friends.” - Clovis Six, BloomUp

“Yesterday, the founder of a startup in Gent messaged me. She fell in love with the space and she wants a seat in this hub.” - Liesbeth Van der Jonckheyd, Start it @KBC

“I recently visited the new hub and absolutely loved it. 1000% better than the old one!” - Pieter Moeremans, Plannr.eu