A traditional freelancer or entrepreneur has had two options: work from home, or a coffee shop. But Audrey Hoyt is helping unconventional workers find the resources, network and space they need by catching on to a new trend in offices: collaborative work spaces.

Hoyt, a 2005 Mercer Island High School graduate, opened a 6,600-square-foot creative coworking space in Seattle – called The Pioneer Collective – over the summer with her husband, Chris.

“We are independently owned and operated and focus on giving creatives and small business owners a beautiful and welcoming place to work and meet with clients,” she said. “Unlike many of the tech-focused spaces around Seattle, we put design details first and believe that atmosphere is a primary driver of productivity and happiness in the workplace.”

Hoyt used her interior design background to cater to what she believes is an underserved crowd: creatives, freelancers and small teams who work in industries other than the fundable tech startup world.

“There are thousands of professionals in Seattle who need a place to work, either because they are a remote worker, self-employed, or on a team that isn’t yet ready to jump into a commercial lease,” she said in a statement.

These incubators, accelerators, and tech-focused shared spaces are found around Seattle, but they are generally geared toward a very specific subset of the economy, she said.

They don’t serve the 99 percent of independent workers who aren’t launching a scalable technology product, but those people need somewhere to work too.

“We believe there is a critical mass of entrepreneurs, creatives, professionals, and small business owners who don’t fit the mold of other shared spaces, but want to work in a collaborative, intelligent environment with first class amenities,” she said.

The company is housed in the ground level space of The Westland Building at 100 S. King Street in Pioneer Square, and offers full-time and part-time memberships, mail handling, drop-in services, conference room rentals and 3,000 square feet of meeting and event rental space available on a limited basis.

Islanders have wondered if a space like this would work in Town Center. Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Terry Moreman said it’s “an intriguing idea” that came up during the city’s Town Center visioning process.

See www.thepioneercollective.com for more.