Start from the coworking space model (free sign-up; running a simulation requires Pro). Framery, a maker of office phone booths, writes that there should be "1 single-person pod and 1 meeting pod for every working neighborhood of 6–12 workers" (Framery for architects and designers). In a coworking space the people in change from day to day, and so do their calls. In this article your AI simulates 20 working days of a mock coworking floor with 2 to 12 one-person booths, with the same tools an AI calls over MCP. Every figure and number below comes from that run.
1. The space and its booths
The model is a coworking space of 24.4 × 18.4 m on one floor. With get_space, your AI reads it:
- 48 open desks in six islands of eight: 40 hot desks and 8 dedicated desks.
- Four private offices for four, four, two and two people and three meeting rooms for eight, six and four, with glass fronts on the corridor.
- 4 one-person phone booths on the east wall, each 1.03 × 1.0 m and 2.25 m high: the footprint and height of Framery One Compact, which Framery calls a one-person call booth.
- A lounge with the kitchen, three toilets (one accessible) and the reception by the entrance.
check_space finds no issues. To see what more booths would do, your AI adds 8 more booths to its copy in one change (edit_space): a bank of two columns of four, back to back, 1.8 m from the desk islands and 1.2 m from the fronts of the booths on the wall. check_space again finds no issues. The booths are numbered so that the four on the wall open first.
2. A day of calls
Your AI saves this day as a scenario (put_process_scenario). Every time and share is an assumption; replace them with your own.
- 100 members work at the open desks. Each comes in on a day with a chance of 50%, between 8:00 and 11:00 (most often 9:00), and takes the nearest free desk; when all 48 are taken, a seat in the lounge.
- A member's day is ten stretches of work of 30 to 60 minutes (most often 45). After each stretch, with a chance of 20%, the member needs a booth for a call: two booth calls a day on average. A chance of 10% gives one call a day, 30% three.
- A call lasts 5 to 45 minutes, most often 15: 21.7 minutes on average.
- The member walks to the booths and takes the nearest free one. When every open booth is taken, the member waits there up to 3 minutes, then goes back and takes the call at the desk: a call without a booth.
- The tenants of the private offices take their calls in their offices and are left out.
Your AI runs 20 days for each case (run_process_scenario) and reads each day on its own: the members in, their booth calls, the calls that found every booth taken and the calls without a booth.
3. With the four booths on the wall
With only the 4 booths on the wall open, 50.8 members come in on an average day and make 103.4 booth calls. 43.8 of the calls (42.3%) find every booth taken, and 27.7 (26.8%) find none free within 3 minutes. On days when more than 48 members come in, the others work in the lounge: 3.7 members a day on average.
The worst of the 20 days is the busiest: 58 members in, 142 booth calls, and 57 of them (40.1%) without a booth.
4. More booths
| Booths open | Calls that found every booth taken | Calls without a booth | Worst day | Days over 5% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 43.8 (42.3%) | 27.7 (26.8%) | 40.1% | 20 |
| 5 | 30.1 (29.1%) | 16.2 (15.7%) | 28.9% | 20 |
| 6 | 18.3 (17.6%) | 9.0 (8.7%) | 21.1% | 15 |
| 7 | 9.5 (9.1%) | 4.2 (4.0%) | 14.8% | 4 |
| 8 | 4.1 (4.0%) | 2.0 (1.9%) | 9.2% | 1 |
| 9 | 1.6 (1.5%) | 0.9 (0.8%) | 4.9% | 0 |
| 10 | 0.7 (0.6%) | 0.3 (0.2%) | 2.1% | 0 |
Calls a day, mean of 20 days, with two booth calls a member a day (103.4 booth calls a day). Worst day: the largest share of one day's calls without a booth. Days over 5%: of the 20 days, those with more than 5% of their calls without a booth.
- With half of 100 members in and two booth calls each a day, seven phone booths keep the calls without a booth to 4.0%.
- From four booths to seven, the calls without a booth fall from 27.7 to 4.2 a day. Each booth added saves fewer calls than the one before: 11.5 from the fifth, 2.2 from the eighth.
- Seven booths still leave 4 of the 20 days with more than 5% of their calls without a booth: on the busiest, 21 of 142 calls (14.8%). With nine booths no day goes over 5%.
5. One, two or three calls a day
| Booth calls a member a day | Booth calls a day | Fewest booths, under 5% over the 20 days | Fewest booths, every day under 5% | Members in per booth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One | 51.4 | 5 (3.4%) | 6 | 10.2 |
| Two | 103.4 | 7 (4.0%) | 9 | 7.3 |
| Three | 154.3 | 9 (3.6%) | more than 12 | 5.6 |
Members in per booth: the 50.8 members in on an average day, divided by the fewest booths that keep the calls without a booth under 5% over the 20 days.
- How many booths a space needs depends on the calls more than on the members: from one booth call a member a day to three, the fewest booths go from 5 to 9 for the same 100 members.
- With three booth calls a member a day, even 12 booths leave one day over 5%: 9 of its 170 booth calls (5.3%) find no booth.
6. A quieter day
With 30% of the members in (31.4 on an average day, 37 on the busiest) and two booth calls each a day, 6 booths keep the calls without a booth to 2.2%; 5 booths leave 5.5%. With 7 booths no day goes over 5%. That is 5.2 members in per booth, against 7.3 with half of them in: a smaller crowd needs more booths for each person in.
7. Against the rule of thumb
Counting the people in, not the members, Framery's one pod for every 6 to 12 workers gives 5 to 9 booths for the 50.8 members in on an average day. The run needs 5 with one booth call a member a day, 7 with two and 9 with three, all inside that range. Counted by the 100 members instead, the rule gives 9 to 17 booths.
8. How to use this
- Count your members' booth calls before you count booths: a booth booking system or occupancy sensors show how often and how long the booths are used, and members can tell you how many calls they take at their desks for want of a booth.
- Draw your floor (a PDF drawing or photos will do), and tell your AI your members, the share in on a busy day, their calls and how long they last.
- Not modelled: calls taken in meeting rooms or the lounge by choice, booths used for focus work rather than calls, booth bookings, calls of more than 45 minutes, noise at the desks, and two-person booths (Framery's meeting pods).
How to ask an AI
For this coworking space (100 members of the open desks, about half of them in on a day), simulate a working day of booth calls: two calls a member a day of 5 to 45 minutes. How many one-person phone booths keep the calls that find no booth within 3 minutes under 5%? Add booths on a copy where they fit, and check the floor.
