Work 4.0 is currently the most important catchphrase in the modern world of work. There are also numerous concepts such as home workplaces, remote teams or flexible flexitime models. A novelty is that professional and private life as well as the boundaries between work, leisure and home are merging more and more.
One embodiment of such a new work 4.0 is the Brucklyn in Erlangen, which I visited a few days ago. This article is intended to present my impressions and thus the Brucklyn in Erlangen. The concept was described to me as a kind of hub for creative young residencials. On the one hand, an innovative living concept as well as co-working spaces should be included in the concept. In the course of the opening, I was invited to Erlangen and I would like to give my impressions of the event in this blog article.
The Brucklyn in Erlangen
Quartier Brucklyn is located in Erlangen-Bruck and, as a play on words, is based on the popular, up-and-coming New York borough of Brooklyn. In summary, the Brucklyn concept is a quarter of diverse offices, laboratories and coworking spaces with many options for integrated living and working. In addition, many services will be offered in the future that will make life easier: day care center, supermarket, e-bike and e-car stations, parking spaces and a hotel. Personal leisure time activities are also shaped by the concept. Examples are themed gastronomy, events, chill-out areas, gyms, lounges and much more. Three of the total of six buildings are available for rent: the multi-storey car park (I wasn’t there), the apartment building The Brucklyn with 300 furnished studios and the Brucklyn Hall with the coworking spaces, event and conference rooms on 2200 square meters. In the course of the opening ceremony I was invited to Erlangen and a big and spectacular show should await me.
Big opening ceremony in Erlangen
I took a closer look at the new concept of Quartier Brucklyn during the opening ceremony. The start was at 4 p.m. with the shuttle from Nuremberg directly to Erlangen. I was welcomed very nicely by the founder and the team. In the first step we went through the area together. I would like to go into this in more detail later, however. After a guided tour through the area, the evening program started to experience the atmosphere in Brucklyn up close. The event was very well organized and fun. After the tour of the building, Alfons Schuhbeck cooked for us in the co-working space. I didn’t miss the opportunity to exchange a few impressions with him.
Then a so-called mind magician read our thoughts. It was also an exciting show that captivated the audience and me. This was followed by a visionary speech by Jürgen Jost, founder and creator of Brucklyn, and singer Sasha (including I feel lonely) delivered a great show with the band. Due to the exclusive circle of the evening event, all Sasha fans were in the front row. The final was a motorbike show with fireworks.
But let’s get back to the actual topic: work, leisure and life are closely interlinked in a specially developed quarter. Is that possible and what can it look like? To do this, I took a tour of the Brucklyn district and Brucklyn Hall and looked at the two buildings that have now opened up close. The Brucklyn Quartier is suitable for living and living and the Brucklyn Hall is a modern co-working space for working.
Life in the Brucklyn district
Life in Quartier Brucklyn can mean a fusion of private and professional life. The operators bring work and lifestyle under one roof. The atmosphere in Brucklyn is exciting, international and inspiring. The idea is to network within the quarter. For example, students from The Brucklyn apartment building can work directly as working students in the coworking spaces and network with companies. At the same time, everything has been done to ensure that the tenants in Brucklyn Hall connect and inspire one another. Later, hotel guests can work in the coworking spaces and tenants there can move to the larger offices and laboratories in the buildings that will then be created.
Working in the Brucklyn Hall co-working spaces
The impressive thing about this former production hall was the really great design and you could see many interesting details. In addition to exciting companies, startups and young companies, there will soon be regular interesting lectures, free start-up coaching by lawyers and tax advisors, for example, and a special kids’ space. The floors are designed in such a way that open coworking and community areas alternate with separate office, conference and event rooms, so that you can work and meet in a concentrated and withdrawn manner.
The following picture shows a community area of the co-working space in Brucklyn. Regenerating rooms for breaks have also been thought of, such as a table tennis room or a Carrera track. I was definitely thrilled and believe that you can work very creatively on the one hand and very productively on the other in this environment. But I can also imagine events to be very representative with a greeting on an impressive show staircase and subsequent live cooking and enjoying together in the dining lounge.
Living in the apartment house The Brucklyn
I then took a closer look at an apartment in the neighboring building. You sit comfortably in your room and have your own balcony. If you are wondering where the bed is, you can simply fold down the wall behind the sofa so that a bed with a 1.40 mattress appears. Otherwise there is a desk, a modern kitchenette and special extras such as fast internet, smart home system, flat screen and a Nespresso coffee machine.
The vision of the operators is to network residents within the building. There are also some common rooms on each of the floors. There was a music room with a library, billiard room, cinema, shisha lounge and much more on site. So you shouldn’t stay in the room for long, but rather do something together with the residents in the house. I tried the kitchen right away and prepared some delicious pasta for the guests.
There are also other common areas in The Brucklyn: a Pavi-Gym, Cooking Lounge, luxury sauna and a cinema. I liked the roof best. In addition to a great pool and lounge furniture on the airy terrace, there is also space for soccer and basketball. I think there is hardly a better place for afterwork. I could also directly imagine that you can have very good parties here.
In conclusion, I believe that the rooms are very modern and comfortable on the one hand and that there is something for every taste and mood on the other with the many opportunities for sport, relaxation and networking. I’m curious to see which of the many rooms will be used the most. This will definitely show up over time.
Overall, I found all the impressions very exciting and I wish the new quarter every success! With the Brucklyn, I was able to see such a concept up close for the first time. I will certainly visit the Brucklyn again after a while and speak to the operators again. I would also like to thank the Brucklyn team for the great evening event and the great organization! Definitely take a look at the two homepages of The Brucklyn and the Brucklyn Hall.
Conclusion: work 4.0
Work 4.0 is currently the most important catchphrase in the modern world of work. Nice that Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs stated in its 2017 white paper that “Work 4.0 will be more networked, digital and flexible.
What the future world of work will look like in detail is still open. While in science we do that Knowing the goal but still researching the way there, others have already implemented an initial interpretation of the vision: The Brucklyn in Erlangen, owned by the Jost Group, impressively presents how, on the one hand, working in creative co-working spaces and, on the other hand, living and living in modern apartments can look like.
