Archinect - News

WeLive isn't growing fast enough to keep up with WeWork's $16 billion valuation

2016-08-11T17:27:00-04:00

Perhaps the most notable business line to suffer from slow growth is WeLive, which offers young renters fully furnished apartments and a communal atmosphere. The two inaugural locations opened in lower Manhattan and Crystal City, Va., earlier this year in converted office buildings. But the costs of converting those spaces proved high given the extensive remodeling needed... Now the company is aiming to put WeLive locations mainly in newly built developments that can be custom designed.

More news from under the WeWork umbrella:

The kibbutz, rebranded for Silicon Valley

2016-05-09T17:37:00-04:00

[Common is] a version of communal living that suggests tech utopia in its ultimate test case: with Nest thermometers, and Casper mattresses, and a house Slack channel, so you can see whether anyone else wants Seamless without having to yell down the hall. [...] As a business proposition, rental real estate wouldn’t necessarily seem like it has much to do with tech; but as a mentality, co-living is pure Silicon Valley — it is life rendered frictionless.

Related on Archinect:

Chief creative officer Miguel McKelvey on WeLive's "relatively neutral" interior design

2016-04-04T19:20:00-04:00

"We wanted the unit itself to be relatively neutral but warm and inviting," [McKelvey] says. "If you look at WeWork as a brand I think the way we design has a more masculine vibe. It’s a little bit heavier and there are some strong contrasts. In the units in WeLive we wanted to have more lightness. Not necessarily masculine and feminine, but just a variable so someone can come in and easily make minimal [changes] and have an impact."

Check out our Working Out of the Box interview with Miguel McKelvey for more on WeWork's design process.

More news from WeWork and WeLive:

Can WeWork re-engineer the spatial dynamics of society?

2016-03-17T12:57:00-04:00

WeWork’s inspirational mottoes—"Do what you love," "Thank God it’s Monday," among many others—its evangelical faithful, and gatherings like the summit all have religious echoes..."Start imagining it a bit bigger," Neumann says about WeLive, stoking his idyllic view, "an entire building. And then instead of having just one building doing it, five buildings doing it. Then you’ll be able to imagine what a WeNeighborhood or a WeStreet would be."

This in-depth profile of WeWork founder and (pro-capitalist) visionary Adam Neumann is worth the read. Whether you like to freestyle your work and life or prefer the centuries-old model of deeded quiet, WeWork (and now, WeLive) is making a previously unsustainable model profitable. Is Neumann just creating a fashionable new real estate bubble, or is he reengineering the way society operates?

To catch you up:

WeLive, WeWork's co-living venture, opens for beta testing in New York City

2016-01-14T12:58:00-05:00

About 80 WeWork members and employees have moved into 45 apartment units in WeWork’s first "coliving" space at 110 Wall Street, which will eventually house about 600 people on 20 floors, WeWork confirmed. Along with living accommodations, residents will have access to community events like fitness classes and potluck dinners, services like cleaning and laundry, and a digital social network—all of which can be coordinated through a mobile app.

ARExA to renovate WeWork's first co-living project on Wall Street

2015-10-21T18:28:00-04:00

The tower, owned by Rudin Management, currently has 260,000 square feet of floorspace that counts towards zoning, and of that, 133,000 square feet will become residential, resulting in 205 new apartments. The remaining 127,000 square feet will stay commercial. [...] 110 Wall Street will be WeWork’s first foray into residential development [...] The inclusion of Class B dwelling units, which denote transient housing, likely signals living options will range from communal to private.

According to CurbedNY, ARExA will head design on the renovation of WeWork's first residential project under its co-living offshoot, WeLive. Completion date is currently slated for March 2017.

WeWork is also hiring multiple positions in New York at this very moment. Check out their listings here:

WeWork: openings for Interior Design Lead; Project Architect; Building Information Specialist

UPDATE: an earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to FXFOWLE as the designer for the renovation, referring to an earlier version of the same news posted to CurbedNY.

More on WeWork and its residential foray, WeLive:

More details emerge about WeWork's residential endeavor WeLive
WeWork moves into residential development with WeLive
Working out of the Box: Miguel McKelvey, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at WeWork

More details emerge about WeWork's residential endeavor WeLive

2015-09-03T14:29:00-04:00

WeWork, the $10 billion startup that leases space to startups, has bigger ambitions: it wants to rent you a "co-living" space where you work, too. WeWork is busy launching its co-living apartments — known as WeLive spaces — in places like New York City and Washington DC, The Information reports. [...] WeWork will offer more than 250 micro-apartments at that location, along with amenities like bike parking, an herb garden, and a library.

Read also our Working out of the Box interview with Miguel McKelvey, co-founder of WeWork and a trained architect himself.

Previously in the Archinect news: WeWork moves into residential development with WeLive.

WeWork moves into residential development with WeLive

2015-03-18T13:09:00-04:00

Vornado and WeWork announced last May that Crystal City would be one of the first places in the nation for WeWork's residential brand, WeLive. Now Vornado has approached Arlington County about changing its plans for 2221 S. Clark St. to set aside two floors of space for a new WeWork center, bringing both concepts under one roof. [...] WeLive is a newer concept geared toward the same audience and including smaller, efficiency units with similar common spaces for residents to share.

Check out our interview with Miguel McKelvey, former architect and co-founder of WeWork, for some background on the co-working giant.