WeWork’s Chief Designer On Creating the Smart Workspace for Modern Work

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On the bustling floor of the Semafor World Economy conference in Washington D.C. this week, a row of glass-doored WeWork pods by the window offers a much-needed refuge for the business executives, journalists and other attendees looking for a quiet space to get some work done. WeWork launched these portable workspaces, called WeWork Go, at the event. It’s the company’s latest effort to meet the shifting needs of white-collar workers in a post-COVID world. The architect behind the project, Ebbie Wisecarver, WeWork’s chief design and product officer, said the pods were inspired by the popularity of phone booths at WeWork’s office locations.

“Work has changed and expanded. We’ve been exploring this idea of introducing [a product] that’s beyond the walls of our spaces,” Wisecarver told Observer near one of those pods. In the return-to-office era, the designer has observed a sharp decline in companies that still want traditional offices and a growing need for flexibility. “They’re more comfortable with having flexible spaces, more soft seating and less desk-heavy spaces,” she said. “Maybe a room is a conference room, but it can also be someone’s office.”

The pod at the Semafor event features a pale-oak desk, a restaurant booth-style seat big enough for one person and a large bag (though not wide enough for an adult to lie down—Wisecarver is ambivalent about the rising trend of workplace napping pods), a coat hook and a few electrical outlets. The design stays true to WeWork’s familiar aesthetic of soft colors, sleek lines and natural light that evoke a sense of home.

These pods are designed for airports, convention centers, office lobbies and other high-traffic public venues. They rent for about $15–$20 per half-hour, depending on the location. WeWork Go comes in three models: a single-user pod for independent work, a multi-user version that fits up to four people, and an ADA-compatible model designed for universal accessibility.

Wisecarver has been with WeWork since 2015, through various tumultuous stages of the company that, at its peak, was valued at $47 billion. Long gone are the days when WeWork was a high-flying Silicon Valley unicorn. After years of founder-driven excess followed by a pandemic collapse, WeWork emerged from bankruptcy in 2024 with a new CEO, real estate veteran John Santora, a more traditional governance structure, and a much more cautious strategy.

“We’re operating in the midst of a structural shift in how companies use real estate. It’s no longer one-size-fits-all. Flexibility now sits alongside traditional leases, and our spaces are designed to support that reality,” Santora told Observer via email. “The design of our spaces—whether it’s a full office or our WeWork Go pods—is a direct reflection of our mission to unlock a smarter way to work.”

Wisecarver’s design team is now smaller than a few years ago—about 180 people in total, including 20 designers—with some functions like customer support and project management outsourced. The WeWork Go pods themselves are manufactured by furniture maker Bureau.

How a WeWork design takes shape

Many design decisions at WeWork are made based on data the company collects about its users’ evolving needs, Wisecarver said. But as an architect by training, she also draws inspiration from everywhere, from fashion to hospitality. “I’ve always been interested in space and how people move from private to public spaces,” she said. “I’m always thinking about how work isn’t just a place you go and grind. It should also be a space you enjoy, where you can interact.”

Wisecarver began at WeWork as a project manager in Australia before helping launch locations in China, Singapore, Japan and India. In those countries, she studied how cultural habits shape the look and feel of workplaces and how thoughtful design can, in turn, influence how people work. In Japan, for example, the office is often “a place people can’t wait to leave at the end of the day,” she said. To soften that sentiment, WeWork added features like horigotatsu, a kind of sunken seating often seen in Japanese homes and restaurants.

“People would linger, have a drink after work, and spend a little more time. It became a retreat from the traditional idea of work,” Wisecarver said. “Social spaces are becoming all-encompassing, and work is part of that.”

More recently, WeWork has become a hub for A.I. startups. A.I. companies occupy a significant share of WeWork spaces globally today. Wisecarver has noticed some distinct preferences of A.I. founders. “It’s interesting how much their aesthetic matters to them. They have a very clear design aesthetic: They want the space to feel cozy and comfortable,” she observed. “And in the meeting rooms and smaller spaces—like private offices, phone booths or phone rooms—you can really see that attention to detail. They really want to have that sense of brand, which is great.”

As A.I. reduces the time spent on administrative tasks and human interaction and creativity become central to workplaces, Santora predicted that, in 10 years, offices will become more “intentional.” “It will serve as the center of collaboration, innovation and culture, not a place for routine tasks that can be done anywhere,” he said. “The shift is already underway. Over the next decade, the companies that win will be the ones that design their workspaces and their ways of working, around it.”