As our Baltimore office continues to grow, we recently moved into a larger space within Spark Baltimore, a coworking and office space in downtown Baltimore City that’s part of Power Plant Live! and just one block from the Inner Harbor.

Coworking is a style of work that involves a shared working space and independent activity. Unlike in a typical office environment, the people who work there are usually not employed by the same organization. Such is the case for us where we work side by side researchers, scientists, creators, software developers, entrepreneurs, government contractors, nonprofit employees, SEO experts, and a plethora of other professionals. There is lots of coworking space but plenty of private office space.

We’re one sliding barn door away from the electric energy that fills the open-concept floors. Shared spaces are beautiful and functional. We have access to numerous conference and small meeting rooms as well as a kitchen and general lounge spaces (including a TV, table shuffleboard, foosball, and a craft beer and wine bar).

When you’re new to the space, your neighbors come over and introduce themselves to you. It’s a great community here. People are friendly and conversational but everyone respects each other’s personal space and doesn’t interfere with getting work done.

We set up our office in the layout that works best for us and we’ve received multiple compliments on it. Being in communications, collaborative work and brainstorming is a big part of what we do on a daily basis. Our office reflects that.

In addition to our Van Eperen colleagues, the other Spark members become associates of sorts. You get your coffee at the same time most mornings and share a few exchanges, maybe you work from one of the sofas in mid-afternoon and chat for a minute before focusing on the project at hand.

Having a private office in a coworking space is really the best of both worlds. We love meeting and talking with new people as much as seeing familiar faces and continuing conversations.