Basements, garages, and warehouses — some of the greatest startups began in some of the strangest places…

but this article says those spaces had unexpected impact on the creativity and energy of the early days of businesses like Apple, HP, and UnderArmour. Here are four qualities such spaces offer:

1. Flexibility and freedom – people can move around, do what they want, and turn space into what they need in the moment
2. No corner offices – raw space means everyone is equal… key for a startup environment
3. Work hard play hard – when it’s not a formal office it’s easier for people to have fun and play games too
4. Hackability – you can change things up whenever you need

I’m turning my team’s office into a creative space, and I think more companies should do the same.