Start here to see introductory video about La Cantine….
A canteen is a very unique environment but what characterises this environment and makes it special? My earliest memories of a canteen extend back to my school days when I was about 6 years old and used to race to get my food when the lunch bell rang. The canteen at Kiama Primany School was a busy environment full of hungry children naturally sharing stories and exchanging gossip while waiting for their food. Looking back, I realise that you can summarise the essence of a canteen environment in three simple words – casual, social and open. These words can be applied to all canteens from those that are in big offices to the ones in schools and, more specifically, for the purposes of this post they can be applied to the co-working space ‘La Cantine’.
La Cantine is a project, which was initiated by the French Association Silicon Sentier, with the objective of realising a collaborative environment in Paris based upon the San Francisco BarCamps. The essential notion which has been adopted is the idea of collaboration. The BarCamps are formal meetings where everybody shares and provides information and where each person acts as a participant and no one is in the position of observer. This concept has been paired with the idea of ‘the co-working space’ which refers to a system of organising and sharing office space to enhance collaboration. The combination of these two systems has resulted in a unique, collaborative and interactive workspace.
La Cantine is located in the Quartier Numerique district in Paris and is accessible from an arcade entered from Grande Boulevards. It is located on 3 levels with the meeting and office spaces on the ground floor, La Fing offices on the first floor and Silicon Sentier offices on the second floor.
La Cantine does not operate solely as a mutual office and co-working space within which to share materials but has a more important function in fostering partnership, co-operation and the association of ideas. La Cantine can be described as casual, social and open and as a result the space is a progressive, open-plan environment. There are progressive stages in moving through the space. Upon first entering the building there is a café with a bar and this is the first point for meeting and contact. It is a point at which to welcome people before a meeting or more simply, anyone can wander in and sit down and have a coffee and perhaps make a contact serendipitously. The second point of contact is within the co-working space which is an open environment with about 15 connected workspaces which can be rented for one day or one week. Next there is a small lounge area and meeting room for about 10-20 people which can also be rented. These stages and the architecture of the building enhance the potential for collaboration by fostering interaction and the sharing of ideas.
La Cantine further fosters the sharing of ideas, collaboration and partnership through the synergy between the place and the partners. La Fing and Silicon Sentier associations are located in the building itself and potential financer Cap Digital is based nearby. As a result, small companies within an ‘ideas’ environment are juxtaposed with larger more established organisations thus enhancing the potential for the realisation of projects.
And so, perhaps that goes some way to explaining why this environment has been termed ‘La Cantine’. It is casual, social and open. I can relate perfectly to this concept - I think anyone who has ever stepped inside a canteen at some point will be able to as well.
