Can't believe someone actually took the time to write this
64 karma · joined July 25, 2016
On university campus and in companies it's a natural occurence. You can have good or bad company culture but there will definitely be a company culture - which seems to be the problem at places like this. There simply isn't a culture.
The size is definitely part of the problem, 500 is way too many. On the other hand I also know people who share house with four other people but have no relation with them.
There was/is a code of conduct and lots of events at The Collective that tries to bond people together. Some people made friends and had their own little group they hung out with but it seemed like most went to a few events and then stopped going.
I might be pessimistic but I think it all comes down to a shared purpose - which you can't enforce unless people work, study or are obsessed with the same religion/politics/whatever.
And yes - it's definitely not designed by people who would eer live there.
What I found was mostly late twenties/early thirties "entrepreneurs" and "consultants" that in reality had achieved very little. To make up for their lack of achievement they adopt a holier-than-thou attitude and talk a lot about how they have escaped hamster-wheel society and are now living as nomads and free-spirits, most likely subsidised by mom and dad.
Amusing to observe but annoying to live with.
The price is ridiculous for a small cage in a crappy industrial area. Facilities are so-so, everything is made to a very low standard. For the same price you can get _so_ much better close to the city centre.
When I lived there the place was infested by young people doing tons of drugs and partying in the common areas. It was well known that several dealers lived in the building but as the staff were also massive cokeheads nothing ever happened.
To fill up the building The Collective housed people on placement through the government. That resulted in some interesting personalities. For example a guy who beat his girlfriend to blood in front of their kid and dragged her out by her hair through the reception.
The general manager was however fired when he, coked off his head, used his masterkey to enter a girls room in the middle of the night to 'talk'.
UBER also had their driver HQ on the ground floor when I was there which resulted in a lot of catcalling and weird behaviour from angry drivers in the reception.