Humanized workspace: community and purposeful design

This episode is a personal one. I sat down with Sarah — my wife, my partner in all of this — to talk about Apollo Workspace: what it is, why we’re building it, and what it means within our larger project, Townsend, in downtown Edmond.We met in the Peace Corps in Uganda, got married after a five-week engagement, and moved to the middle of Oklahoma so I could learn structural masonry from a master mason. Building Culture started around the same time as our marriage, and a decade later, we’re building something that I think pulls together everything we’ve learned — about craft, about community, about what it actually means to make a place where people can do their best work.Apollo is a professional workspace for small teams and solo entrepreneurs — not coworking in the way most people think of it. We’re talking about private offices with real windows, structural brick masonry walls that are 16 inches thick, timber ceilings, and outdoor courtyards with a sauna and cold plunges. The whole thing is embedded in a walkable downtown district with 35+ restaurants and a park across the street.I talk about why we named it Apollo — the Greek god of light, creativity, and knowledge. Why the building materials matter and what people feel when they walk into structural masonry. Why we chose downtown Edmond and how we see it becoming one of the most walkable places in the OKC metro over the next decade.We get into the business case: if you come to Apollo and you don’t make more money than your rent, we’ve failed. This space should pay for itself through better focus, better client impressions, a built-in referral network of 30–40 other small business owners, and the kind of problem-solving community that’s hard to find when you’re running a business alone.We also talk about the Founding Member program — the first people to commit get their name carved in stone on the building. Not a plaque. In the masonry. Because the story of how something begins matters, and the people who take a chance early deserve to be part of that story permanently.If any of this resonates, go to apolloworkspace.com or email [email protected]. We’re signing LOIs with refundable deposits now — no risk to lock in your space but a great time to get in early. 0:00 Open0:28 Intro & Welcome2:52 The Origin Story — Peace Corps to Oklahoma5:12 Why Build a Workspace?7:37 The Name: Why Apollo?10:00 Workspace, Humanized — What That Means12:15 The Power of Small Business Community14:34 AI, Rapid Change & Learning Together16:51 Structural Masonry: Why the Building Matters19:15 Design with Soul20:14 Mid-Episode Break20:34 Sauna & Cold Plunge at the Office24:06 Why Downtown Edmond?26:33 Apollo at Townsend: The Full Picture28:57 Who Is Apollo For?31:25 Home Office vs. Apollo33:27 Not Networking — Problem Solving37:55 Founding Members Program39:38 How to Get Involved42:13 The Vision: A Thursday Morning at Apollo45:06 Closing & Masonry Event PreviewCONNECT WITH APOLLO WORKSPACEhttps://apolloworkspace.com/https://www.instagram.com/https://www.linkedin.com/company/apolloworkspace/[email protected] CONNECT WITH AUSTIN TUNNELLNewsletter: https://playbook.buildingculture.com/https://www.instagram.com/austintunnell/https://www.linkedin.com/in/austin-tunnell-2a41894a/https://twitter.com/AustinTunnellCONNECT WITH BUILDING CULTUREhttps://www.buildingculture.com/https://www.instagram.com/buildingculture/https://twitter.com/build_culturehttps://www.facebook.com/BuildCulture/