[hackerspaces] distributed space?

[Brett Dikeman]

Hi all,

I live in a neighborhood in Boston where there's about zero space
available. Problems: many rentable spaces are ludicrously expensive to
the point where the financial models don't work, or they're way too
large to launch without it being a really big, expensive gamble. There
is very little non-retail commercial space; even less industrial
space.

Also, as noted in other discussions, a lot of potential uses aren't
compatible without good isolation from each other (metalworking,
woodworking, electronics, coding, etc.)

It occurred to me that there could be different spaces around the
neighborhood that are all part of the same organization/community.
Only for the sake of clarification of the larger concept (I don't want
to get bogged down in nitpicking around these specific examples):
maybe someone has a detached garage that they're OK with people doing
metalworking in, we're able to find a one-room office good for
electronics/coding/administration, the local craft shop wouldn't mind
donating or sub-leasing a back office or some space in their basement
for textile work, etc.

Are there any groups who have tried this, successfully or not? My
immediate thought it is that there's need to be a strong focus on
community building to make up for the lack of one common room/space
(such as providing tools for people to share/see what others in the
group are working on, rotating a regular community meeting through the
different spaces, encouraging each space's users to host "open house"
sessions, etc.)

Thanks for your thoughts!
Brett