{"id":1687,"date":"2025-09-24T11:32:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T09:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sfl.mentalworks.me\/?post_type=article-etude&p=1687"},"modified":"2025-09-24T11:32:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T09:32:18","slug":"audrey-barbier-litvak-density-creates-movement-and-community","status":"publish","type":"article-etude","link":"https:\/\/sfl.mentalworks.me\/en\/article-study\/audrey-barbier-litvak-density-creates-movement-and-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Audrey Barbier-Litvak: \"Density creates movement and community\"."},"content":{"rendered":"

WeWork has a global community of 140,000 members and spaces that are natively designed for mobility. In Paris, the American company has already set up four sites, and plans to open four new ones in the near future. Audrey Barbier-Litvak, WeWork's Managing Director, spoke to us at the Paris Workplace about the choices the company has made to encourage movement.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Audrey Barbier-Litvak<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How is WeWork promoting mobility in offices?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We have made a very strong choice: to limit the space per person to 5 m2 (compared with 10 m2 on average), but to increase the number of shared communal areas. This forces people to get out of their offices and meet each other. Density creates movement and community. We apply the same principle to the size of the corridors: wide enough to pass comfortably, but not wide enough to be two abreast. This allows our members to meet and talk to each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We have made a very strong choice: to limit space _<\/strong>\u00e0 5 m2<\/em><\/strong> per person (compared to 10 _**<\/strong>m2 on average), while increasing the number of shared communal spaces.<\/em>**<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

On the floors, we have a \"standard model\" with a kitchen and free drinks to encourage conviviality, telephone booths, glass offices and meeting areas. We create differences between floors so that people can go up and down according to their needs: the meeting rooms have different capacities, some floors are quieter, others brighter, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WeWork Lafayette<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To encourage more movement and encounters, we have adopted other \"rules\". For example, dogs are allowed because they become an excuse to start a discussion. At WeWork Colis\u00e9e, we currently have three dogs. It's almost like behavioural economics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Generally speaking, everything is codified so that, wherever they are in the world, members of the community can feel at home. This is very important to us because it means that our members can move around without friction and find their bearings again and again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the approach to mobility between WeWorks in the same city and internationally?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Any member of the community can work in the common areas or book a meeting room in a WeWork. Each WeWork is adapted to its location, and therefore to its use. We estimate, for example, that the hyper-central location of WeWork 92 Champs-\u00c9lys\u00e9es will attract many more client or partner meetings. We have designed the space accordingly, with more dedicated rooms. We are also currently working with partners to develop modes of transport (electric bicycles, etc.) that will encourage mobility between our various Paris locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WeWork Colis\u00e9e<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our premises are rarely fully occupied because our members are very mobile. They can work from anywhere: from another WeWork, but also from home or from the offices of their 'parent' company. We realised that there was a real demand for international mobility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a product called 'Global Access', which gives highly mobile employees of major groups a place in hot desks around the world and credits for meeting rooms. If tomorrow someone from WeWork Colis\u00e9e (in Paris) wants to go to WeWork Shanghai to meet mobile Techs, they can make a request on the application and when they arrive we can arrange for them to meet 15 of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the advantages for a company of joining the WeWork community? Is there a business impact?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our members come to us looking to meet new people. And we do everything we can to encourage them, thanks to the mobility of our premises. These meetings result in gains business<\/em> : 50 % of our companies have already done \"real\" work business _between them (_i.e.<\/em> which gave rise to invoicing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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50 % of our companies have already done \"real\" business with each other (i.e. invoiced).<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Our community is made up of companies of all sizes: freelancers, start-ups, SMEs, large groups, etc. They come to find synergies: freelancers and start-ups are looking for clients, SMEs and large groups for the flexibility and agility of start-ups or new technological solutions. We have an Airbus employee at WeWork C\u0153ur Marais. He's working on a flying car. Why is he alone? Because he needs to immerse himself in a culture that encourages creativity and be in contact with the whole tech ecosystem.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":1639,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true},"categorie-article-etude":[9],"class_list":["post-1687","article-etude","type-article-etude","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categorie-article-etude-interview"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfl.mentalworks.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-etude\/1687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfl.mentalworks.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article-etude"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfl.mentalworks.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article-etude"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfl.mentalworks.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfl.mentalworks.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"categorie-article-etude","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfl.mentalworks.me\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categorie-article-etude?post=1687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}