Phew. I’m not alone.

A recent column in New York Times by Lisa Belkin discusses the way in which many people have discovered their own personal creativity hotspots, or white spaces, where they are their most productive and most innovative.

Desks suffice for answering phones and filing forms, but when it comes to the creative or introspective aspects of a job, desks can be uninspiring at best, or formidable obstacles at worst.

So we leave those desks. Because we can. We take our laptops and seek shelter (and WiFi) either elsewhere in the building…or farther away in libraries and bookstores.

The term “white space” implies a place set apart, physically and mentally. It is not only used by graphic artists to describe the empty space in a layout, but also by time managers to explain the minutes frittered away between appointments on office calendars.

Since I started my job at Columbia University,

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