I was listening to an episode of Cal Newport’s podcast Deep Questions, and he mentioned Dagstuhl, a computer science research centre in Germany.
From Wikipedia:
Following the model of the mathematical center at Oberwolfach, the center is installed in a very remote and relaxed location in the countryside. The Leibniz Center is located in a historic country house, Schloss Dagstuhl (Dagstuhl Castle), together with modern purpose-built buildings connected by an enclosed footbridge.
The ruins of the 13th-century Dagstuhl Castle are nearby, a short walk up a hill from the Schloss.
A lot of people find environment to be an important factor in how effectively they can work – the right desk chair, the right ambient noise, the right pre-work coffee ritual. Other people aren’t so bothered. Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone somewhat famously did a lot of work with computer equipment perched on speakers and a cardboard box, and if such a setup can produce a masterpiece like Stardew Valley, there must be something to it.
I’m somewhere in the middle. I like a clean desk and a quiet room. Beyond that, I’m not too choosy.
However, the idea of being able to retreat to a remote location in the country (with a castle!) to just focus on one thing sounds dreamy. I’m a big fan of remote work and asynchronous collaboration, but there is just something special about being in a significant location with like-minded people, with nothing to do but work on your favourite problems. It’s something I really enjoyed about university, and I wasn’t even lucky enough to go to university next to the ruins of a castle.
