When the weather was nice in grade school, you could be sure at least one student would ask, “Can we have class outside today?” At a new workspace pop-up in downtown Silver Spring called Outbox, you can escape your office’s fluorescent lights to achieve the grown-up version of having class outside.
The workspace—created through a collaboration between Downtown Silver Spring, Peterson Companies, and Montgomery College, with sponsorship by Adventist HealthCare—will launch on June 6 with seating, tables, free WiFi, and electrical outlets available for out-of-office workers to use Monday through Friday every week this summer. The space was designed by students at Montgomery College’s Department of Applied Technology who pitched their ideas to Peterson Companies—the development company behind Downtown Silver Spring—until a winning design was chosen.
“Outbox was designed to invigorate a typical retail street and arts and entertainment district,” said Peterson Companies regional manager Dan Figueroa in a press release. “We see it as a place where collaboration and creativity can foster in an enclosed, yet outdoor environment.”
Outbox’s design was inspired by the vibrant colors present throughout downtown Silver Spring—leading to the four brightly colored box-frame workspaces that will be set up each morning and broken down each day. The workspace will be open from 10 AM to 7 PM from June 6 through October on the plaza by Ellsworth Drive in Downtown Silver Spring.
To see more of the Montgomery College students’ design process in creating Outbox, check out the video below.
Caroline Cunningham joined Washingtonian in 2014 after moving to the DC area from Cincinnati, where she interned and freelanced for Cincinnati Magazine and worked in content marketing. She currently resides in College Park.
