Sebastian Vela - Axis Space

Our site visit in downtown Ft. Lauderdale was very interesting because we were introduced to a new trend in office space.  Sebastian Vela welcomed our class and explained what this trend consists of: a sharing workplace where professionals from different disciplines rent out space whether private or public and where they can work together and even help each other.  The place is located inside a residential building called Las Olas River House. This building was built with an office component; however it had not been rented for a long period of time.  Sebastian and his friend had known of the concept from cities like San Francisco and New York where it had been successful and decided to bring this concept to Ft. Lauderdale.  They bought the property and Sebastian’s father designed the architecture of the space.  

The space is divided in three floors and it is available twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.   Every member of Axis Space has the benefits of the building gym and pool regardless of the size of space they rent.  The first floor is an open space layout with long tables, chairs, a copier, fax, coffee, sound proof phone booths and access to wireless internet.  The cost of using the open space is $300.00 a month.  To access the second floor, members use stairs.  It does not have any furniture except for two medium size conference rooms equipped with screens on each side of the tables that provide ability to connect any device for a presentation. The conference rooms are between $45.00 and $70.00 per hour and they have an amazing view of the inter-coastal.  The remaining space on this floor is used for social gatherings and networking events scheduled by Axis Space or by its members.  A very attractive feature on this floor is a nap room that is semi dark and equipped with spa like chairs and deemed lighting.

The third floor is divided into small offices that have clear glass walls and cost $900.00 a month. Some of these offices have one desk or two desks and have the option of a parking space for $70.00 a month.  There is a common area with coffee and the only access to this floor is by elevator and only members who rent those offices have a fob to use elevator.

I enjoyed this site because it was a concept I had never seen or heard of.  It seemed to be a logical idea to share office space and collaborate with other professionals as a way to do business.