Life at freya

Community Amenities

Common Areas. Freya was designed with a multitude of common areas throughout the building so members can come together to cook dinners, host events, hang out and more. Each floor has a fully furnished chef’s kitchen, TV room/lounge, and laundry room. The 1st floor is the premier common areas of the property, with a community lounge and kitchen that is ideal for hosting large group gathering and events. Detailed common area usage guidelines and policies can be found on the Freya policies page.

Laundry. Each floor has its own laundry room off of the lounge which can be easily used with a credit card. No more carting your laundry up & down floors, no more laundromat, and no more quarters! Just download this app and add a credit card to your account. Further instructions are on the wall of the laundry room. Please remember to leave the washer & dryer doors open when not in use.

Kitchen Cubbies. The common kitchens all have cubbies available for personal food storage. Each member is entitled to a cubby in the kitchen on the floor. OpenDoor will provide you with a label you can use to mark your cubby, please reach out to Cathy on Slack. Cubbies are not lockable, so please use at your own risk. 

Exercise Room. Freya has an exercise room in the basement available for use by all members. It includes free weights, a NordicTrack, a bicycle, yoga mats, and resistance bands. 

Deck, Fire Pit, and Grill. Community is built around the camp fire. So naturally, there is an outdoor deck and fire pit right off the 1st floor community lounge. This is a wonderful gathering spot, especially in the evening. In addition, there is a gas grill on the deck for barbecuing and the like. 

Piano Lounge. The first floor lounge includes a beautiful piano so members can make beautiful music, host jam sessions, and the like. Treat the piano gently and we will enjoy music for a very long time. Reminder: quiet hours are 10pm to 8am, unless agreed upon by the community for special events.

Rental Lockers. We have 27 storage lockers on floors 2-4 for rental. $10/month, available on a first come, first serve basis. Please reach out to OpenDoor on Slack or email [email protected] if interested.

Amazon Lockers. Feel confident that your Amazon packages will be delivered safely by using our Amazon lockers. Instructions on how to use them are on the Freya portal home page. 

Bicycle Storage. we love being able to offer our members bicycle storage on our basement level. Please use the East Stairs for taking your bikes in and out. There is a bicycle ramp down to the basement level right off the 1st floor entrance. Use your fob to enter. The room is monitored by a security camera and logs all entrances and exits. We encourage you to lock your bike.

Dog Washing Station. Downstairs in the Bike Storage, we have a dog washing station! We love it when you keep your pup squeaky clean (and so do your fellow members). Please protect the pipes by cleaning the hair out of the drains and wash basin after each use, and generally cleaning up after yourself so it’s ready for the next pup!

ACtivities & Events

Overview. An important and exciting  part of the Freya community experience is the hosting of and participating in events, social gatherings, community dinners, outings and more. Members should expect periodic events hosted in the common lounge by fellow members and OpenDoor. We encourage all members to get involved in these events. OpenDoor offers support and best practices in event planning and hosting.

Hosting Events. With so many people in the community, there are always be fun and interesting events to participate in. We encourage and support members in hosting events in the various common areas of the property. Make sure to refer to the common space usage guidelines in the Freya policies page for specifics on booking common areas and sharing events with the community. 

Community Dinners. Community dinners, whether impromptu or planned, are a great way for members to come together. In many OpenDoor communities, dinners happened 2-3 times per week and are a staple of the community experience, often referred to as “family dinners.” Through the Freya food program, we make cooking and eating together even easier (see details in the Food Program section of this page). 

AIRs events (through June 2021). As part of the Freya Artists in Resident Program, the AIRs will be hosting events open to all members once a month through June. Keep an eye out on Slack and the community calendar for information on upcoming events. 

Social Catalyst Role. Social Catalysts are passionate community members and leaders who organize events, activities and social clubs within the Freya communities. While we encourage all members to take initiative in the Freya communities, Social Catalysts receive extra support from OpenDoor in hosting and organizing. If you’re interested in becoming a Social Catalyst, please reach out to Cathy via Slack to learn more.

OpenDoor Monthly Dinner & Circle. OpenDoor hosts a monthly community dinner and “connection circle” for all members in the 1st floor lounge. Participation is not required but strongly recommended as a way to connect with other members, keep you finger on the pulse of the community, and get some free food! 

OpenDoor Community Workshops. OpenDoor offers periodic community workshops for Freya members throughout the year. These workshops are designed to connect members to one another, build strong relationships, and provide valuable skills in areas such as communications, facilitation, and conflict resolution. You can find upcoming workshops on our community calendar, as well as in Slack.

Food Program

Community is built around the dinner table. We believe breaking bread together to be a fundamental and powerful way to to build community. As such, we have designed an organized food program at Freya to facilitate members cooking and coming together for shared meals. 

Fully Equipped Chef’s Kitchens. The common kitchens on each floor come fully equipped with appliances, dishware, silverware, and serving-ware. This makes it easy to cook and eat shared meals together. We’ve gone the extra mile and included special appliances such as Vitamix blenders, Instapots, coffee grinders, and even two espresso machines on the 1st floor (instructional video here).

Basic Kitchen Supplies & Condiments. We stock all of the common kitchens with basic supplies such as salt, spices, oils, and condiments so it’s easy to coordinate shared meals with other members…just worry about the main ingredients! Note: these supplies are intended for only for meals cooked in the shared kitchens. Please do not bring supplies back to your studio, as we will run out and there won’t be enough for other members. 

OpenDoor-hosted Monthly Dinners. Approximately once per month, OpenDoor will host a community dinner in the 1st floor lounge. These are optional but highly recommended, as they are a great way to meet other members and the food is free! Dinners may include programming such as activities, speakers, and the like. 

Groceries Program. COMING SPRING 2021. We have partnered with the amazing coworking and restaurant space in South Lake Union called the Collective to provide wholesale, healthy groceries to Freya members. Deliveries happen once per week. In addition, there is the option to setup group accounts so it’s easier to split food costs across multiple people. Who hope this will both save Freya members money while also making it easier for them to have dinners together. 

Please use this form to place your weekly grocery order with the Collective for delivery to Freya. Orders placed by Tuesday 11:59pm will be delivered on Thursday the same week between 2-430pm. Orders placed after Tuesday will arrive the following week. 

Slack Community Workspace

Overview. OpenDoor uses Slack as our online communication platform for members to communicate, collaborate, and organize with one another virtually. Freya has its own dedicated Slack workspace intended for open communication about community needs, issues, and coordination between community members. Additionally, it serves as a convenient customer service channel for reaching OpenDoor with any property or community issues.

How to Use Slack. Slack is basically a community-oriented chatroom. Members can share and read messages with others through direct messages, group messages, and thematic “channels” such as Events, Community Dinners, and the like. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the Slack policy in the Freya policies & agreements page.

Joining Slack. You can find the Freya Slack Workspace here: freyacommunity.slack.com. If you have not joined the workspace yet, please check your email for your invitation to sign up. If you cannot find your email invite, please reach out to [email protected].

Slack Expectations, Norms & Best Practice

• Use threads and emoji reactions to respond to specific Slack posts – it helps keep channels uncluttered
• Please limit @channel tagging to only things very important or urgent (otherwise, you’ll become the boy/girl who cried @channel!)
• Check Slack regularly to stay up-to-date on important announcements and communications within the community
• Try writing shorter messages that scan quickly. Posts that are “novels” will likely get ignored.
• Manage your own notification settings to work for you
• Reduce off-hours pings with Do Not Disturb
• Do not posts anything that is obscene, inappropriate or harassing
• Keep conversations relevant and be mindful of your language and interactions. Always assume good intent in others. If in doubt, leave it out. 
  
• Avoid arguments or interpersonal conflict over Slack. If a conversation gets heated, please take it off Slack and work it out directly with the other person.

Channels. Below are descriptions of some of the core channels in the Slack workspace.

• Floor and Pod Channels – you will be added to a channel for your floor and your pod so you can easily communicate with your neighbors!
• #_od-announcements –  OpenDoor will use this channel for official announcements
• #_od-chat – Members can use this channel to reach OpenDoor and ask us questions
• #411_on_covid19 – A channel for all things COVID-19
• #all-freya-chat – This channel is for members to communicate with the whole Freya Community
• #events – This channel is for community events! Make sure to share any open events you’re hosting here. 
• #food-program – Dor all talk food, community dinners and grocery related
• #needs_and_gives – A channel for generosity and serendipity!
• #new-member-intros – Welcome new members to the community
• #outdoor_adventuring – A place to plan hikes, skiing, and other outdoor adventures 

Floors & Pods

Freya is a large building and community, but it naturally breaks down into smaller floors and “pods” (wings of each floor) that allow for a more intimate sense of community with neighbors. 

Floors

Each floor has its own common kitchen and living area. This naturally will facilitate floor-mates getting to know one another better and require extra coordination between members of the floor.  Floors have their own private Slack channels for ease of communication between floor-mates.

Pods

Pods are smaller subgroups of members who share a wing within a floor. These groups are even more intimate than the floor. You can see the layout of the pods in the Freya pod map. Pods also have their own private Slack channels for ease of communication between pod-mates.  

We hope and intend that over time, each pod will develop its own sense of identity, shared values and interest. OpenDoor offers support to pods in putting together a vision statement and organizing any pods activities such as regular dinners or outing. In addition, As the community evolves, members may wish to transfer to different room and pods to be near their friends.

Freya has a professional-grade wifi system installed throughout the building. The password is pikeplace5198. 

Each unit and common area has a specific wifi network you should connect to for the best connection and speeds. Please refer to the Freya WiFi Network Guide for a list of all the units and their respective networks. The password is the same on all networks, and once you connect, your device should automatically connect the best signal. 

All members have access to free basic wifi throughout the building. You also have the option to to upgrade your connection to faster speeds (100MB/s) for additional $30/month. Please go to fastmesh.com/upgrade for instructions.

Wifi is provided by a 3rd party company called FastMesh. All technical support (including connectivity issues) and account support is provided through them directly, not OpenDoor. You can reach FastMesh at 206.317.4336 or [email protected].