It is perhaps surprising in how long it has taken, but the slow democratisation of fast internet has meant the decline of traditional office spaces. Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer has had to beg her staff to come back to the office, and office designers and progressive firms are quickly realising that traditional cubicles and desks no longer provide the kind of infrastructure that is useful. The arrival of places like Batstone Pool in Greenpoint, Cape Town, will not help.
A pool deck high up on the Cape Quarter, it’s a members’ club with a difference, offering quiet work spaces, excellent coffee, pumping internet, a tightly curated menu of good local fare – and a pool with loungers. It’s an idea spot to knuckle down to get some work done, to entertain clients or to hold meetings and collaborations.
The fact is, people still need such spaces and a poorly lit, dusty, formica-ridden open-plan office-of-yore looks increasingly archaic in the face of spaces like Batstone. You can access the deck with a walk- in payment of R150 or you can become a member for an undisclosed fee. It is open five days a week from Wednesday to Sunday from 11am till sunset and has a café-style menu, fully stocked bar and Bootlegger coffee.
079 973 8368. batstonepool.com
APRIL 2015
WELL DECKED: BATSTONE POOL
It is perhaps surprising in how long it has taken, but the slow democratisation of fast internet has meant the decline of traditional office spaces. Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer has had to beg her staff to come back to the office, and office designers and progressive firms are quickly realising that traditional cubicles and desks no longer provide the kind of infrastructure that is useful. The arrival of places like Batstone Pool in Greenpoint, Cape Town, will not help.
A pool deck high up on the Cape Quarter, it’s a members’ club with a difference, offering quiet work spaces, excellent coffee, pumping internet, a tightly curated menu of good local fare – and a pool with loungers. It’s an idea spot to knuckle down to get some work done, to entertain clients or to hold meetings and collaborations.
The fact is, people still need such spaces and a poorly lit, dusty, formica-ridden open-plan office-of-yore looks increasingly archaic in the face of spaces like Batstone. You can access the deck with a walk- in payment of R150 or you can become a member for an undisclosed fee. It is open five days a week from Wednesday to Sunday from 11am till sunset and has a café-style menu, fully stocked bar and Bootlegger coffee.
079 973 8368. batstonepool.com