11: Adam Glaser
adam glaser
Adam mentions loving cities way before Richard Florida. To clarify, Florida is a Urban Studies theorist focusing on social and economic theory. He is the author of the well known book, the Rise of the Creative Class (2002).
Adam Glaser is the Chief Design Officer for Benjamin’s Desk
Benjamin’s Desk is merging with 1776 (another coworking space originally based in DC)
Adam received his Bachelor’s Degree from Rice University and his Master’s from the Harvard Graduate School of Design
Graduate degree is in Architecture and Urban Design
Adam does a lot of work in the “innovation space” in which corporations or universities, who want to attract younger talent, redesign and rethink their use of space
He did some research on Cambridge ( a coworking space) which is coming to Philly next year!
Adam was the Design Principle for a Washington based company when he first heard about coworking spaces (about 3 years ago)
He was commuting from DC every day and decided to start coworking at Benjamin’s Desk
He got to know the founders, Jen and Anthony Maher very well
Adam put together a presentation about the coworking model and was invited on board
Adam likes the coworking model because it allows him to continually innovate and interact with spaces — whereas most architects design a space and never interact with it again
In those three years, Benjamin’s Desk has gone from ~ 3,000 sqft to over 125,000 sqft
He loves being able to adjust the space and flip things around based on community needs
He also enjoys watching how people interact with the space and learning what their needs are
Benjamin’s Desk consults with some local universities and corporations about how they can innovate their space
These are institutions that aren’t going to rent from Benjamin’s Desk, but have their own space to play around with
Adam sees lots of entrepreneurs and startups getting ahead of themselves in terms of their business model — thinking they know more than they do
What sets Benjamin’s Desk apart from other coworking spaces is that they embrace a partnership model and help hook up their tenants with resources
Adam is originally from a small town in Kentucky, not far from Nashville
He went to school in Texas, but came up to the northeast in the 80s
He has lived in Philadelphia on and off since then
Adam is attracted to Philly because it’s a “real city.” It’s not about money or transaction — it’s authentic (a word Adam says is overused)
Benjamin’s Desk and 1776 want to form a northeast coworking corridor
They call it the “hub and spoke” model
The hubs are the cities — the “showrooms for innovation”
Their intention is to build spaces between major hubs
It will allow companies to decentralize their workforce
This will include more people these businesses — at the heart of it, it will increase connectivity between people
One of Adam’s most striking comments is [regarding coworking spaces, Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, etc] is that it allows people to pay for access / use instead of paying for space.
Adam believes Philadelphia needs to increase its connectivity outside the core of the city — the Manayunk’s, Roxborough’s, Conshohocken’s, etc
A quip Adam makes is that if you care about work-life balance, working from home is oxymoronic
One major benefit of the centralized employment model is the ability to economically uplift people and areas without having to completely gentrify and change the fabric
Benjamin’s Desk also has access to funding streams and more — not your average coworking space
Resources:
Union Software — Software platform comparable to Linkedin, where entrepreneurs can find resources, etc [currently being built out