6 ms·
OfficePod - Tiny, Minimalist Office Space
- gills 17y agoUgh...does it come with your very own standard issue citizen's pants and shoes?
- adam-_- 17y agoThey look pretty nice but what if it's raining?!
- robin_reala 17y agoUnfortunately, http://www.officepod.co.uk/blog/uk-price-announcement/ http://www.officepod.co.uk/blog/uk-price-announcement/ OfficePOD are pleased to announce an introductory price - for the United Kingdom - of just £14,950 plus installation and VAT.
- sailormoon 17y agoA bargain at a tenth the price! edit: Actually, looking at the gallery, it does seem very useful indeed. Not sure it's worth over the cost of a medium sized car, but still.
- Nekojoe 17y agoSo adding VAT at 17.5% that's £2,616.25 Bringing the total up to £17,566.25 Which is about $28,276 (USD). That's before you pay for installation too.
- thafman 17y agoIt took me about three minuets to get that this not a gag.
- sparky 17y agoIt probably wouldn't have taken so long if you weren't distracted by the dancing :)
- westbywest 17y agoNevertheless, such a pod would be rendered obsolete by the SurvivaBall. At least the ball travels around with you. http://survivaball.com/ http://survivaball.com/
- peter_jansson 17y agoYou will have to work really hard to stay warm when the temperature drops and the rain turns into snow... But maybe that's the idea? - To improve efficiency?
- va_coder 17y agoI don't think it's that crazy for home offices. It could serve as a way to communicate to others that you are working, and it could help you mentally separate work and recreation. They could also make it a tanning salon/office combo. Not only will you get your work done, but you'll get a great tan as well ;)
- mahmud 17y agoFor $25k, you can afford a fully trained domberman, to stand at guard and keep your loved ones at bay while you work.
- generalk 17y agoFor that kind of money you could easily outfit an existing room with a top-quality computer, comfortable desk and chair, office supplies, whatever you need to work.
- j_baker 17y agoI don't think the biggest issue is money. It's more about space. Not everyone has an extra room that they can dedicate to having an office. And they may not even be able to add one for $25k.
- billswift 17y agoMaybe not, but you can enclose a corner, outfit it with desk, chair, files, and computer, for less than $6000, much less $25k.
- HeyLaughingBoy 17y agoNo, but if you can find the space to put a pod like this outside, then you can find room for a small garden shed that costs < $1000 and outfit it with really nice furniture for a hell of a lot less than $25k. Where I live, you can build a 30'x60'x15' pole shed for about $15k. That's bigger than some people's apartments!
- truebosko 17y agoI prefer a coffee shop when not at home :-)
- jodrellblank 17y agoOffishBowl - Tiny thief friendly glass box office for your garden.
- bstewartny 17y agoActually I've thought about something similar many times (except I'd just build it myself). Or, maybe having a small RV to work in... getting away from wife and kid during work is the main issue for me ;)
- jcromartie 17y agoJust shy of $25K USD for a small room with a door as a single person's computer-based workspace? This is mind-numbingly stupid. You could hardly meet with a second person in there, let alone do anything on a whiteboard or requiring much more physical space than the small desk inside. Why do tiny, minimalist things always cost so much?
- rick_2047 17y agobecause they are not always mass produced in the start. Look at the price of ipods, mobiles and our good old computers for a reference.
- j_baker 17y agoThese are all very good points. However, I would take one over a cubicle in a heartbeat.
- rubinelli 17y agoI don't have a link handy, but this is very close to the initial concept for cubicles. Then middle managers intervened.
- pg 17y agoIn a place where land was expensive it might make economic sense. E.g. in Old Palo Alto houses cost about $1000 per square foot.
- axod 17y ago>> "An independent study has shown that moving to OfficePOD reduces CO2 emissions by between 46% & 67%." Where to start :/
- cypherdog 17y agoI'd only buy it if it made a cool airlock decompression noise everytime I open the door.
- briancooley 17y agoI'd much prefer something like the ones shown at http://www.modern-shed.com/modeloffice.html http://www.modern-shed.com/modeloffice.html Different locales, so it may not be fair to compare prices, but the 6'x8' option above is about one third the price for comparable square footage.
- Mark_B 17y agoFor that price, if you want to have an office out in the garden, build a gazebo and REALLY enjoy your office being outdoors.
- smiler 17y agoNice idea in concept but with all that glass going on I don't see how it can heat very well in the UK winter. It doesn't include the cost of running power / network / phone line to it either - which if you want it done properly and done underground is not terribly cheap. Lastly it just looks like a magnet for burglars to be breaking in and stealing stuff
- RiderOfGiraffes 17y agoThis got submitted 8 months ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=623266 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=623266 It didn't get a very good reception then, either. EDIT: Sorry, looking at the wrong article. Last time it got one comment, and that was negative.
- mhb 17y agoThe alpha version: http://www.flickr.com/photos/apollosputnik/2447744070/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/apollosputnik/2447744070/
- ivenkys 17y agoRubbish idea, sitting looking like a glass-fish in a bowl and at this price point Totally Rubbish.
- pg 17y agoNice looking, but you'd roast in one of these in California. They should add a fabric shade on top of it that extends at least 3 feet past the footprint on each side.
- a-priori 17y agoAnd you'd freeze in one of these in Canada. Unless you have a space heater, but in that case their claims of environmental benefits go out the window.
- wheels 17y agoAssuming that's double paned class and that the rest is well insulated it'd be fine. Not everything in the world is constructed as shoddily as most houses in North America. We've got double paned windows and when it's -10°C out I can put my hand on them and they're only cool to the touch, not cold.
- aaronblohowiak 17y agoAs soon as you open the door, whoosh
- billswift 17y agoYou need to actually check R-values. Even triple-pane windows with low-pressure dry Nitrogen between them has less insulation value than a sheetrocked stud wall with no added insulation.
- joubert 17y agohttp://www.wejetset.com/magazine/2009/6/23/723/places_to_live:_loft http://www.wejetset.com/magazine/2009/6/23/723/places_to_liv...
- motters 17y agoLooks horrendous. Who wants to work inside a tiny box?
- jodrellblank 17y agoAgreed. If I was designing something like that, it would have a motorized roof. And a comfier chair. And a bigger desk. And be more like an open space which closed up for security at night than a closed space all the time. Or even, more like sitting outside with a laptop on a patio table and instead of walls closing around for security, you go back inside... PS. Gardners want to work in tiny glass boxes because plants grow better in the warm humid greenhousy atmosphere. Maybe ideas do too?
- look_lookatme 17y agoSomething like this (not this) would be wonderful on top of a building in NYC. If you lived in a brownstone (owned a brownstone) and could put one of these on top, that'd be awesome.
- statenjason 17y agoThey should promote them as stackable too. Imagine these developer cubes filling a warehouse.
- aroon 17y agoI think this would be so much better and useful if it was a solar powered shower that sat in your garden. It could catch rain water when available and use tap water (from the hose) otherwise. It's pretty simple to stick a water tank in a solar oven to heat the water too. And you don't need a water pump if the water tank is on the roof, you get plenty of water pressure from gravity. The water could also then drain into the garden if you used the right soaps in the shower. A nice design like this could really bring grey water to people who don't want to build their own outdoor showers.
- aroon 17y agoBTW, I know this idea is kind of out of left field but its the first thing I thought when I saw the box. It really looks like it would be a pleasure to take a shower in it while being in the garden.
- TrevorJ 17y agoIf I had to spend that much money on a portable cubicle, I would use a shipping container as my platform instead. They are cheep, strong, secure and there is a worldwide infrastructure in place to ship them as cheaply as possible. I could have the whole thing shipped anywhere in the world with ease.
- xenonite 17y agoless windows please... the cube is much too open! especially the window behind. read Feng Shui: they say it's uncomfortable if you cannot control what's behind you. to let in light, a glass roof might be better instead.