Canopy’s refined vision of urban co-working.

What is nirvana? In the traffic-clogged Bay Area, some define it as the ability to escape hours of commuting, and the attendant inefficiency and frustration, by simply walking to work. Of course, in this transcendent state, the workplace wouldn’t be just a utilitarian cubicle, but a space filled with the latest in high design — Herman Miller couches, Sayl chairs, a Juicero press, private offices, WiFi and 24-7 access (with security cameras) and more.

Pacific Heights, at least, is one step closer to that bliss, thanks to industrial designer Yves Béhar, M-Projects designer and property developer Amir Mortazavi, and software, investment and medical entrepreneur Steve Mohebi. Taking a cue from the warehouse-style co-working space, they’ve scaled the size down and amped up the refinement with a boutique co-working space for mature, urban professionals in upscale neighborhoods — no foosball or beer pong allowed.

Canopy, on Fillmore Street, works on a membership basis and will vet applicants, promising to allow for a variety of backgrounds, ages and ethnicities. Canopy is considerably smaller than other co-working spaces that can occupy a footprint of 30,000 square feet or even triple that. Its membership fees, however, cost more, at $650 a month for shared tables to $1,100 a month for dedicated desks to up to $5,500 a month for a private office with room for up to four people.

“What we found was that there was a real dearth of options in the upper end of the market, and I don’t mean in the snobby sense,” Mohebi said. “I mean the package we’ve put together — which is high design, in premium or even, I daresay, prestigious locations and in a boutique format.”

The team is looking to open several more boutique co-working spaces (with different, not cookie-cutter, decor) in San Francisco and elsewhere on the West Coast.

“Co-working is like the sharing economy — it’s maturing and becoming smarter and is reaching into new demographics,” Béhar says. “That’s something we think this business will do, and it also provides flexible office space in neighborhoods that really don’t have it.”

WHAT MAKES A GREAT OFFICE? LIGHT. Canopy’s space was formerly divided into 16 rooms. The team created one large room to take advantage of windows on four walls. Existing square skylights were left as-is on the outside, but inside they were...

THE TRIO BEHIND CANOPY: M-Projects designer and property developer Amir Mortazavi (left); industrial designer Yves Béhar; and software, investment and medical entrepreneur Steve Mohebi.

KITCHEN. Amenities include Heath tiles as a backsplash, a Juicero juice press, and a microwave and convection oven, Sightglass Coffee, Pique Tea, Sodastream sparkling tap water and catering from Jane cafe on Fillmore. Says Béhar: “We have an office...