There's a moment that many people have probably experienced in recent years: You walk into the office on a Wednesday morning, switch on the lights, start the coffee - and hear the fridge humming. 380 square meters, 24 desks, and there are three of you.
Our office is on Hardturmstrasse in Zürich West, on the fourth floor, one single open space. We planned it years ago for a team that would be there in full every day. That reality no longer exists, and it isn't coming back.
From almost every day to a good quarter of the time
Before Covid, we were practically always in the office. Today, our on-site presence averages about a quarter of our working hours.
Most of the rest is remote work from home, and I'll admit it openly: We were skeptical at first. Software development thrives on quick questions called across the desk, on looking at a screen together, on the whiteboard in the meeting room. The idea that a team could work distributed for years and still maintain its quality sounded like wishful thinking in 2020.
It wasn't. Our team has handled it exceptionally well - independently, reliably, without anyone needing to check up on them. Projects are running, clients are happy, and fires are rare. That's not thanks to a tool or a process, but to the people who work here. So let me say it explicitly: thank you.
A smaller share of the empty desks has a different cause: We spend significantly more time on site with our clients than we used to. If you want to understand the business processes of an industrial company, you have to go where they happen - to order processing, production and logistics, to the people who work with the systems every day. That time is better invested there than at our own desks.
Why we kept the space anyway
The nice answer: We're attached to this office. Over the years it has filled up with trees, chili plants and everything else people have brought in. We have four soundproof rooms just for phone and video calls, two meeting rooms, a kitchen that seats twelve, and a shower for after a run along the Limmat. You don't build something like that twice.
The honest answer is less romantic: We have a long-term lease. We took over the space as a bare shell back then and invested accordingly in the build-out - floors, walls, electrical, network, the soundproof rooms, the entire infrastructure. All of that is built into these square meters and couldn't come with us if we moved out. A smaller office would have meant writing off an investment we'd already paid for and paying for it all over again somewhere else.
So we were tied to it. And yet a half-empty room isn't something you're happy to settle for. That left two options: sit it out or share. We share. We work at ten desks in the back of the office and offer the 14 desks up front to others. That's Astina Oasis.
The demand we didn't see coming
We thought we'd be renting out individual desks to freelancers. Instead, it was mostly companies that came - and they wanted something very specific: fixed weekdays.
When we started, that option wasn't even on the price list. Today it's the most popular one, and the reason is telling. These companies don't want to commit to a multi-year lease because they don't know whether they'll be five or fifteen people in two years. Their teams work largely from home and are doing well with it. But going entirely without shared days doesn't work either - and when people do get together, it needs to be predictable. So: always Tuesdays and Thursdays. Everyone knows it, everyone plans their meetings around it, and nobody has to renegotiate every week.
This shows up directly in our weekly schedule. Tuesday is by far the busiest day, Wednesday the quietest. If you book fixed weekdays, your desk is guaranteed, even when Tuesdays get crowded. If you come with day passes, you'll find plenty of room, especially on Wednesdays and Fridays.
What 24 desks do differently from 500
Zürich West has excellent large coworking spaces, and for many people they're the right choice: a big network, an event program, a front desk, multiple locations. If that's what you're looking for, you're better off there, and we say so.
What people appreciate about our space is almost the opposite:
- It's small and manageable. 24 desks in total. People know each other by name. On Tuesday, the person next to you is the same as last Tuesday, not someone who's here for the first and last time.
- It's quiet. No walk-ins, no tours, no hustle and bustle. Whoever is here is working.
- The ratio is right. Four soundproof rooms for calls and two meeting rooms - for a maximum of 24 people. In a large space, a few hundred people compete for a handful of phone booths. Here, you get a room when you need it. That's the point that comes up by far the most often in conversations.
- You can leave your things. Your laptop open when you go get coffee, your papers on the desk. That's a matter of trust, and trust builds faster in small groups.
- It feels like your own office - just without a lease, and without having to deal with internet, printers, the coffee machine or cleaning.
Who works here
The part we planned the least is now the part we like best. The 14 desks are occupied by people from industries that would otherwise never end up in the same room: a startup developing software for quantum computers. A company for solar and energy solutions. A boutique consultancy for strategy, innovation and organization. Someone building AI agents for continuing education and employee development. And an international environmental and sustainability consultancy whose employee regularly works with us on a day-by-day basis.
We'd be lying if we claimed we all sit down together at the table every lunchtime. We don't. But you run into each other in the kitchen, you chat during coffee breaks, and every now and then six or eight of us have lunch together. Surprisingly often, something useful comes out of it: a tip, a contact, a perspective from an industry you know nothing about. Someone who has already gone through the same permit process. Someone who has already made the very mistake you're about to make.
The shared part isn't the price you pay for filling the space. It's the part that has made the office better than it was before.
Sometimes our clients join us at the table
A side effect we hadn't anticipated: Because there's room, we can also host our own clients here. Not just for a meeting in the conference room, but to work alongside us. During intense project phases - go-live, data migration, integration testing - people from the client's side spend a few days at our table, right next to the team building their solution. Short paths, instant answers, no chain of scheduled meetings.
That wouldn't have been possible in an office for ten people.
What it costs
- Day pass, CHF 40 per day. Come whenever it suits you. The first day is free.
- Fixed weekdays, from CHF 156 per month per weekday. Your desk is guaranteed, even on busy Tuesdays.
- Dedicated desk, CHF 680 per month. Your own desk, around the clock, no need to clear anything away.
All prices excl. VAT, payment by invoice, Twint or cash. No subscription, no credit card, no deposit, no sign-up fee.
The four soundproof rooms for calls are included in every option, even the day pass. If you have fixed weekdays or a dedicated desk, you can also use the two meeting rooms Cube and Corner, subject to availability, at no extra charge. Only day guests and external visitors book them by the hour.
We're at Hardturmstrasse 105 on the fourth floor. Two minutes from the Förrlibuckstrasse tram stop, twelve minutes from Hardbrücke station. The Technopark is right next door, and so is the Limmat.
Four things we've learned about offices
- Nobody just goes to the office anymore. The office used to be the place where you worked without thinking about it. Today, people come because they have something specific in mind - a conversation, a workshop, a day of focused work away from home. That changes what an office needs to offer.
- The bottleneck is never the desk. We thought we were renting out workspaces. In fact, we're renting out the ability to talk undisturbed at any time. Almost every inquiry gets around to calls sooner or later. The soundproof rooms are the reason people stay - not the height-adjustable desks.
- Predictability beats flexibility. In conversations, everyone says they want maximum flexibility. What gets booked is fixed days. Once you've decided that Tuesday and Thursday are office days, you don't want to renegotiate that every week.
- A shared office is fuller, not more cramped. That was our worry at the start, and it turned out to be unfounded. We didn't give up anything except square meters nobody was using.
Just drop by
The first day is free. Someone from the team welcomes you, shows you around, and you work here for a whole day without having to commit to anything. That's more convincing than any price list - almost everyone who has done a trial day has come back.
The best way to reach us is via WhatsApp or phone at +41 44 271 16 10, or by email at oasis@astina.ch. All photos, rooms and prices are on oasis.astina.ch.
And in case you're wondering what we do when we're not renting out desks: We work for manufacturing companies and retailers. We analyze and design their business processes - from order processing, production planning and shop floor processes to product data, delivery and invoicing - and we develop and run the software that supports these processes and connects the existing systems. Learn more under Services & Solutions.
Quick answers
Can I book a desk at short notice? Yes, day passes with no commitment, subject to availability. Fixed weekdays and the dedicated desk are guaranteed, with one month's notice to the end of the month.
Are the meeting rooms included? With fixed weekdays and the dedicated desk, you can use Cube and Corner, subject to availability, at no extra charge. Day guests and external visitors book by the hour: Cube for 6 to 8 people at CHF 35, Corner for 4 to 6 people at CHF 30, billed by the actual hours used.
What if my team wants to come in on two fixed days? That's exactly what this option is designed for. Two days a week cost CHF 312 per month per desk, and the days are guaranteed.