Camping-themed co-working site opens in downtown San Francisco

Co-working spaces are all the rage at the moment.

• Co-working: inside the hottest trend sweeping the workplace
• WeWork now fifth-most valuable tech startup

No longer just the realm of startup founders in hoodies, co-working spaces are being embraced by companies big and small.

With regular proclamations that they are transforming the way we work and are the way the future, they are also popping up on street corners around the world.

This has meant that the companies offering the spaces have had to introduce novel and unique ways to make their spaces stand out from the pack.

These include co-working spaces in restaurants, one designed to look like a hotel lobby and even a tiny version located in a telephone box.

Now a San Francisco-based company has launched a co-working space located entirely outdoors in camping tents and shipping containers.

The former carpark can cater for about 150 workers at one time. Photo: Campsyte

The “urban campground for work” sits in a converted 10-car parking lot in the middle of the city and is the brainchild of US company Campsyte.

You won’t have to sacrifice any of the amenities we’ve come to expect at a co-working space though, with wi-fi, printing, coffee and a well-stocked kitchen on offer. There are also some much more unique offerings, including private camper trailers and tree tents, a fire pit and barbecue grill and furnished shipping containers that serve as conference rooms.

The whole space can accommodate about 150 people at any given time, with fees starting from $US5 (about $6.50) for an hour, $US11 for a day and $US33 for a month membership.

Campsyte originally launched working sites housed in shipping containers around the city.

The company says the outdoor space is ideal for “team building, product launch, happy hour or for an offsite team”. Photo: Campsyte

After honing in on the vacant parking lot in San Francisco, the team were informed that their shipping containers were considered permanent structures by law, so they instead turned to camper trailers.

The company says the outdoor space is ideal for “team building, product launch, happy hour or for an offsite team” and you can “use it like you would your own backyard”.

Campsyte founder Niki Choo said the space is part of the company’s wider efforts to make better use of space in cities and offer a special environment to get work done.

“Part of the motivation of this project was to try to redesign cities, to enhance city life,” Choo told Hoodline.

“In the tech-driven world of Facebook and social media, this space provides a more intimate setting – it’s a little more personal.”