Dojo

OPINION - The Hacker Dojo is a rather menacing name but in actual fact, it is a collective workspace for techies in Mountain View to do their thing, create start ups, conversations and great opportunities. It's where sites such as Pinterest took root, a place where innovation takes place. What could be better! 

Only thing is that the establishment is operating illegally and under fire from the local authorities, not for the work they do, but the building code infringements, mostly around fire egress and accessibility. Here, the worlds of creative tech and the age old limitations of architecture collide.

These code requirements (in particular the two mentioned) are strict for a good reason, but apparently to retrofit the old warehouse space to meet the code will cost more than what this organisation has available. Estimated to cost $250,000 dollars in upgrades (not surprising in the field of architecture and planning permissions), it's quite unfortunate to see such this community constricted by their shut down venues.

I hope there's a generous architect/planner who are helping them out pro bono and offer some expertise (makes life easier in these issues). Such spaces are valuable in how creative industries evolve, especially with the current trends in open source.

Help Hacker Dojo out - have a look at their website and cause. If you are interested in such spaces, or know of any, check out my previous blog post about collaborative creative spaces or leave a comment.