ETC 2.0 / Beehive 3.0

[Dave Troy]

Hey everyone!

You may know that ETC Baltimore was opened in 1999 and has been a
resounding success since. And Beehive Baltimore has been proud to call
ETC Baltimore our home since we first opened in February, 2009.

Much has changed since 1999. ETC was designed right as the first tech
bubble was taking off, and attitudes about workspace and
entrepreneurial culture have continued to evolve.

So it's time for a fresh look.

I've been talking with Bill Struever, developer of the Can Company
building, and he is working on a major redesign of the ETC.

Highlights include: the possibility of adding a mezzanine level, new
common areas, coworking spaces for teams, and more space for events.
Much of the current Beehive, conference room, reception area and
common areas would be incorporated into this new design.

This plan will happen quickly and will have an immediate impact on
both the Beehive and broader Baltimore tech communities.

Bill and I are both committed to the idea that coworking should be a
major element of ETC 2.0 and we think involving the community in its
design and creation is crucial.

We're putting together a *small* group conversation next week with
Bill Struever and architect Tom Liebel and space designer Kelly Ennis
to discuss ideas for the ETC redesign.

If you would like to be part of this conversation, please let me know;
space is limited and several key folks are already invited. Or if you
have ideas for what the new design should include, please feel free to
send me an email!

Looking forward to seeing what we dream up together!

Best,
Dave

[Patrick M. Roanhouse]

Would it be cool to join in on this even though i'm not a full member of any group there?

Regards,

Patrick M. Roanhouse

Email: Patrick.M...@gmail.com
Mobile: (410).929.2008
Twitter: @Roanhouse
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/patrickroanhouse

> --
> Beehive Baltimore
> Community Coworking in Baltimore
>
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/bhivebmore
> Mailing List: http://groups.google.com/group/coworking-baltimore?hl=en?hl=en
> http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=aca6jqm53qar9sjoob0flau5v0%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York

[Dave Troy]

Patrick, we'd love the input. I am not sure if there's going to be
room at this first meeting but if not we'll be doing a second. Stay
tuned... Meantime please feel free to send over some ideas.

Best,
Dave

On Apr 5, 2:41 pm, "Patrick M. Roanhouse"

<patrick.m.roanho...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Would it be cool to join in on this even though i'm not a full member of any group there?
>
> Regards,
>
> Patrick M. Roanhouse
>

> Email: Patrick.M.Roanho...@gmail.com

> >http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=aca6jqm53qar9sjoob0flau5v0%4...

[Mario Armstrong]

Don't know if this fits well with the plan but it might be worth a look at IdeaPaint product to paint more walls into potential whiteboards.

Cant wait to hear more about the ETC evolution.

Cheers,
Mario

*Sent from my handheld, cut me some slack on spelling & grammar errors, after all um typing with thumbs :-)

> http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=aca6jqm53qar9sjoob0flau5v0%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York

[David Troy]

Several ETC tenants have used the Ideapaint product, and it could work well if incorporated into the design. Noted!

D

--
Dave Troy

CEO, 410 Labs
dave...@shortmail.com (for short mail)
dave...@gmail.com (for long mail)
Meet with me: http://tungle.me/davetroy

[Michael Barr]

From my perspective it would be great to include an element like a hackerspace, which could support electronics development (at the prototyping level only, of course) and provide a few lab benches with space for shared tools a la oscilloscopes and soldering irons. (I'd be happy to donate some of those tools, if I knew they'd have a good home.)

Cheers,
Mike
--
Michael Barr
Netrino, LLC
6030 Marshalee Dr, #355
Elkridge, MD 21075 U.S.
Toll-free: 866-78-EMBED
Direct: +1 (443) 482-9012

Read my blog at EmbeddedGurus.net/barr-code

On Apr 5, 2011, at 2:39 PM, Dave Troy wrote:

[David Troy]

Noted, though if you don't know about it, there is an existing hackerspace in Baltimore Node (on North Avenue). I am sure they would love some donations, etc! Keep the ideas coming.

D

--

[Patrick M. Roanhouse]

1.) Sound proofing - In the past while having meetings at the ETC you can overhear people in other offices making phone calls. nothing can be secret with the paper thing walls is the feeling I got from a few of the incubator members working there.

2.) Lighting control - Open spaces and common areas with real sun light is nice and all but in the end if you want to do anything related to new media production, a controlled environment of light and previously mentioned sound is critical.

3.) AV Studio - if you guys have product i'm sure being requested to be a guest on a talk show or radio show or even filming demos of products might be nice. A centrally controlled room that has Lighting and sound and AV equipment set up might help in ease of access. Something that can allow any of the incubator members to easily pop on to a talking head interview with a remote link might be beneficial to the promotion of not just the ETC but also the companies working out of there.

4.) better open area community open meeting room. Baltimore lacks any reliable open meetings rooms, the closest we have is the enoch pratt central library for meetings or talks but even then you have to be a nonprofit and you can't even charge for it.

5.) Maybe having a tiered seating college style classroom for talks, demos, or even classes would be a huge perk to the ETC. ETC members can have people have training with out even having to leave the building. An entire team up to par on a new platform they are adopting with the trainer coming to them with a nice AV and plug filled auditorium style classroom, its not like the building isn't tall enough for at least a 40 seat stadium seated classroom / lecture room. A space like this that also hosts all the tech focused Meetup.com groups would be very nice.

6.) *pipedream* small fab shop. Laser cutter, 3d Printer, with soldering iron work bench. Rapid consumer product prototyping is a huge growing future industry builder. I can just imagine some of the ETC members that could come out of having access to that kinda tool set in the downtown Baltimore area. The closest thing available is the MIT Fab Lab at the Catonsville campus of BBCC. http://www.meetup.com/CCBC-MIT-Fabrication-Lab/

....

all that i can think of now.

Regards,

Patrick M. Roanhouse

Email: Patrick.M...@gmail.com

Mobile: (410).929.2008
Twitter: @Roanhouse
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/patrickroanhouse

> http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=aca6jqm53qar9sjoob0flau5v0%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York

[Michael Barr]

Regarding phone calls, one of the things I've observed (in my own behavior, as well as that of others) is a lot of walking the halls during phone calls. For me, this is because I don't want to disturb others who may be programming or engaged in other heavy thinking.

Is there thus a want for "phone booths", which are basically private rooms you can take cell phone calls in? Ideally, there'd be a chair and a desk large enough to set a laptop and a notepad in each.

I second the need for a small classroom.

Cheers,
Mike
--
Michael Barr
Netrino, LLC
6030 Marshalee Dr, #355
Elkridge, MD 21075 U.S.
Toll-free: 866-78-EMBED
Direct: +1 (443) 482-9012

Follow me at twitter.com/netrinomike

[Chris Chodnicki]

Shower facility for peeps that workout and would like to shower after.

Best Regards,

Chris Chodnicki | Chief Technology Officer
R2integrated-Digital Marketing & Technology
[P] 410.327.0007 x1123 | [M] 410.977.9433
[Skype / Twitter] cchodnicki
cchod...@r2integrated.com | www.R2integrated.com
Baltimore . NYC . Seattle . St. Louis . Vienna
Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn  Flickr

[James Novak]

IdeaPaint is a great suggestion, especially given the large open wall space. 

the common space would be high on the list.  I spent 5 years at the ETC and on of the most frustrating things was a lack of a common space.  i always assumed one of the goals of the ETC is collaboration, but other than the small kitchen or in the hallway, there were very few places to interact with other tenants.

another issue would be sound proofing some areas of the building.  we had the largest space and it was an echo chamber because of the open spaces and high ceilings.  this was several years back, so it may have improved, but that was tough when you wanted a meeting not to impact the other spaces. 

--
James Novak
james...@gmail.com
http://linkedin.com/in/jamesnovak

[John Trupiano]

On Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 3:20 PM, Chris Chodnicki <cchod...@r2integrated.com> wrote:

Shower facility for peeps that workout and would like to shower after.

+1000

[Patrick M. Roanhouse]

The one thing that sucks about the Baltimore node is that it is woefully underfunded and this quote from Ghostbusters sums it up best "This building should be condemned. There's serious metal fatigue in all the load bearing members, the wiring is sub-standard; it's completely inadequate for our power needs. And the neighborhood is like a demilitarized zone."

An ETC backed support to make Baltimore Node a member and provide them a space which make them masters of share lab would be a very wicked cool idea. Plus as the building would be shaped to the needs it would be easy to set up the kind of power needs for tools and stuff. Last time i visited Baltimore Node, they blew a few thing up using a saw to cut shelves that was plugged into a rat nest of multiple surge protectors

Regards,

Patrick M. Roanhouse

Email: Patrick.M...@gmail.com

Mobile: (410).929.2008
Twitter: @Roanhouse
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/patrickroanhouse

[Adam D Bachman]

(speaking only for myself here, wanted to put in a word for the Node) 

The problem isn't underfunding, we're pretty much break even. The "problem" in this scenario is that Node isn't a charity or a community outreach vehicle, but a place to exercise our own ideas and projects. It's hard to get members to do anything they aren't interested in and so far seeking funding and pursuing other peoples' hopes for us has proven fantastically uninteresting. 

This city could use more hackerspaces, though, and as long as there are people interested in running them they'll thrive. It would either take super dedicated volunteers or paid employees. I'd look more to Kyle Van Horn's work with Baltimore Print Studio as an example of what a creative community space could look like and how it could function given time, energy, and just enough money to bootstrap.

- Adam

[Patrick M. Roanhouse]

I like the shower idea. I mean sometimes you be working a 24 hour straight run and you got a meeting in the morning. I used to keep a second pair of clothes at old jobs just incase of such things.

Regards,

Patrick M. Roanhouse

Email: Patrick.M...@gmail.com
Mobile: (410).929.2008
Twitter: @Roanhouse
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/patrickroanhouse

[J.R.]

I'll throw in my 2 cents, (won't be here next week)
1) A small room/s to meet in. I think a lot of folks miss the rooms we had
at the old hive.
2) Areas (like the rooms in #1) or corners where people can make phone
calls.
3) Lockers so folks can leave valuable stuff there. Even full timers can't
leave their laptops, etc. (This could be a source of extra income?)
4) A "small business" plan for small teams, namely, start-ups.
5) (I know it may not be in the budget, but. . .) A full-time attendant who
also actively recruits new members.
6) Finally, in the node's defense, I know it's no Trump castle, but people
there are very helpful and they are constantly making improvements. I
encourage people to go and participate and help it grow. Who knows, maybe
one day it will be a Trump castle (ok, a little, North Avenue version of
one).
Finally, Here's a good article on co-working:
http://mashable.com/2011/03/01/managing-coworking-space/?utm_source=iphoneap
p&utm_medium=rss&utm_content=textlink&utm_campaign=iphoneapp

J.R.

-----Original Message-----
From: coworking...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:coworking...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Patrick M.
Roanhouse
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2011 3:19 PM
To: coworking...@googlegroups.com

Regards,

Patrick M. Roanhouse

> --
> Dave Troy
>
> CEO, 410 Labs
> dave...@shortmail.com (for short mail)
> dave...@gmail.com (for long mail)
> Meet with me: http://tungle.me/davetroy
>
> --
> Beehive Baltimore
> Community Coworking in Baltimore
>
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/bhivebmore
> Mailing List:
http://groups.google.com/group/coworking-baltimore?hl=en?hl=en
>
http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=aca6jqm53qar9sjoob0flau5v0%40group.
calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York

--

[Dan...@snakehill.net]

Are you guys aware of the planned development in Highlandtown of the old Boys Club Building near the corner of Clinton and Eastern Avenue. Joe Schultz a developer has been working with Ben Walsh on it. The project passed zoning recently but I'm not sure of the timeline.

Dan

From:        Michael Barr <mb...@netrino.com>
To:        coworking...@googlegroups.com
Date:        04/05/2011 03:11 PM
Subject:        Re: [Beehive Baltimore] ETC 2.0 / Beehive 3.0

[David Troy]

Yeah, I toured the site with Ben – I think it's a great model. Coworking is like restaurants and coffeehouses. More == better. In both cases, the trick is making the financials work and in having a sustainable model.

Dave

[Stephen]

See you there.
Stephen