ikigai coworking (transform a 40 year old nairobi house)

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Our Concept
Ikigai is a beautifully curated shared office space in the heart of Nairobi. Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means “reason for being” and it is usually depicted with the Venn Diagram which can be viewed at http://pin.it/yTHVF5u. We chose this name because we want people that use our space to come there to accomplish their life’s work. We want to provide them with an atmosphere that stimulates their creative juices but also allows them to focus on their core business and let us do the rest.

At Ikigai, we will cultivate an environment where meaningful human interactions are nurtured to encourage impactful and profitable connections between ideas, individuals and businesses. Ikigai is not just another shared office space but a place where community and the collective is at the heart of everything we do. As a start-up ourselves, we understand first-hand the challenges of setting up a business and from our past corporate experience we too understand the challenges of growing and optimizing established companies for success. As such, at Ikigai, you will have a beautiful and secure space to work from, social areas to connect with your peers and strangers alike, weekly events and workshops to help your team grow, a coffee bar to keep productivity high and a community manager to cater to your every need allowing you to focus on what you do best.

Words that describe us
Simplicity, Creative, Transparent, Passionate, Helpful, Focused, Modern & Edgy, Customer-centric, Convenient, hipster-ish, Unconventional.

Our House (set in a 40 year old beauty)
Ikigai will be located in a beautiful house sitting on 1.5 acres in a leafy Nairobi suburb. The large garden is littered with large charming trees and provides a wonderful environment to work in whether inside the house or out in the garden. See photos 1,2,3 and 12 of the house.

This is a 4-bedroom house with a spacious entrance lobby (photo 8 &9), a large lounge (photo 10 & 11) with one fireplace, dining room (photo 5), large kitchen (photo 6) and a lovely patio (photo 14 & 15). What is very important to us is to have a layout that encourages interaction and collaboration. Below are the things that we require in the space but let your imagination run wild in terms of creativity and efficient use of space.

• We require a reception area and have an old vintage car that we would like to place somewhere interesting. This area has very high ceilings. We want to create an impression.
• 4 bedrooms (Photo 7) to be used as private offices for companies that have several staff members and need the privacy. Two or more companies can also share a private office. Please optimize the space for the maximum number of people, but not too crowded.
• We require a boardroom for 12-15 people.
• We require a large communal work area. A mix of standing areas, sitting areas, long tables and round tables are welcome. We really want the space to feel warm but of course we want to optimize the space for efficiency and to get as many seats as possible.
• We require a small, cosy/comfy informal area where people can hang out and socialize and network and get away from their work.
• Plants are an essential part of this space both inside and outside. We require a hangout spot where people can mingle in a more relaxed setting.
• The kitchen will be fully equipped. We will have to work with the existing cupboards and upgrade them as best we can. We have the option of having an opening in the wall between the dining room and kitchen because the kitchen tends to be a place where people congregate as they drink their coffee.
• We require a small coffee bar that serves espresso style coffee with a barista and also serves beer. This should not take up a lot of space but be ideally located and built in wood. This can also be outside in a shipping container or in the social areas or kitchen or anywhere you think would work :). There is an option to create a deck from the kitchen that looks out on the garden. Photo 16 & 17 show the wall where the deck would go. The deck could look something like photo 18 in the optional references. If this works, this opening shown in the photo could be the coffee bar area.
• The terrace will be another communal workspace.
• Storage lockers for users to store their belongings and receive mail.
• The two garages (photo 13) can also be used as meeting rooms and private offices or anything else you may have in mind. Surprise us!
• The staff quarters will be used to house a staff member who will manage the premises. We will also use this space for office storage.
• To start with, the garden will be used as a communal working area, so we would like to have tables, chairs and parasols/sails. We are hoping to have a little café and coffee roastery there in the future, probably in a shipping container. The garden will also be used as an event space.

These are just our thoughts and we are very open to new ideas.

We would also like to bring the outdoors into the house by having a lot of plants (floor and hanging) inside the house.

Custom made wood furniture and artwork by local artisans are easy to get in Nairobi, so this is a direction we would like to explore as a way of promoting local talent. They just need images of pieces we want and they can make them using our measurements. Some artisans to look at are http://www.unitymakers.co.ke/. We would like an eclectic mix of wood and metal (nothing too “matchy”) with pops of colour and a slightly grungy, distressed and industrial feel that is functional and professional looking. A feature wall with a distressed brick finish would be great.

Ceiling heights are as follows:
Kitchen 2900mm
Utility area 2410mm,
Dining 2870mm
Lounge 3035mm
Entrance lobby 6000mm
Upstairs family room and bedroom 3 are both 2745mm
Downstairs bedrooms 1, 2 and master are all 3050mm
Lobby bathroom 3050mm
All doors are 2035mm

Height from the floor to the bottom part of the windows is 720mm and from floor to the upper part of the windows is 1940mm.

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