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Defined by its East End locale, East Room, Toronto’s favourite coworking space is crossing Yonge Street

East Room is venturing westward with its new location in the city’s vibrant Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood. Distinct for centring design and hospitality within its programming, the coworking space promises to bring a dynamic social and community hub across town with its latest expansion. 

East Room
East Room

Founded in 2014, East Room has a vision of developing a space to enhance the personal and professional well-being of its community.

Set to open this spring, the inaugural West End site at 68 Claremont Street will feature an 800-square-foot café and bar powered by Forno Cultura in addition to its wide range of office space and sprawling lounge rooms. Designed in the vision of East Room co-founder Derreck Martin, the café and bar will be public-facing and accessible through the building’s inconspicuous alleyway—a “hidden in plain sight” architectural style that has become synonymous with the neighbourhood’s distinct sense of cool.

co-working space
co-working space

Intentional design decisions create a working environment suitable for a variety of needs – from independent work to collaboration.

“The West End is very community oriented, but it doesn’t have a community clubhouse where everyone can connect in a professional setting,” says Martin. “Ultimately, we want to be that clubhouse to the West End.”

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Okay, but it clearly is

For the first 16 years of my life, the bat cave at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)—a reconstruction of an actual cave in Jamaica—was among my favourite places in the city. The cave was decorated with cast stalactites and wax bat models, which hung from the ceiling and threw jagged shadows on the walls. A few other features imbued it with spooky verisimilitude: the drip-drip-drip sound effects, the mirrors arranged to create the illusion of infinite depth, the strobe lights strategically placed to make the shadows flutter. When I visited as a five-year-old, the bat cave scared me. When I visited as a stoned fifteen-year-old, it scared me even more. Then came the renovation.

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