Would you feel inspired in a weird workplace?

If society demands we must work, then why not make it weird?

That sounds good to me. Seems to sound good to the folks at the BBC as well. I saw this article over there about how workplaces are changing up the mix and being creative as to where their staff spend their days (and let's face it, sometimes nights.) Anything beats cubicles or sharing an office so let's take a look at a few of the "out there" options that are out there. I leave it to your judgment if they indeed sound weird.

-TREExOFFICE in London. It's an urban treehouse built on stilts around a tree. It has eight workstations with WiFi. Up until now, the only the guys at Keebler could brag that they "work in a treehouse." Or a "hollow tree," at any rate.

-A New York City attorney turned his yacht into an office. He conducts all of his work at sea, via WiFi of course. Nice arrangement if you can afford it.

-If you can't work in a treehouse, then why not work in a train? London's got this one, too. There's a disused train sitting atop a warehouse that houses an art collective. The train has had its mechanical parts removed in order to create more room to work. There's also no insulation. Tends to make things a bit on the cool and crisp side during the chillier months of the year. On the other hand...
"There's no big management in place, no hierarchy, and I think the space has affected that," says one of the workers in the collective.

This has inspired me to seek out other "weird office spaces." I found this list. While there are a few that are somewhat "steps to the left," I see two big winners for my money. One is the Longaberger Basket Company from Ohio. Their headquarters is a seven story office building that looks exactly like a basket. Also in the good ol' U.S. of A. is the Casket Arts Building in Minneapolis. It manufactured all manner of funerary gear up until 2005. Now the floors of the building house artists (I'm noticing a pattern here.) There's also The Engine Group in London (man, London gets cooler by the second for me.) It has a meeting room with spinning waltzers and an elevator with an interior covered in Jaffa Cakes. Nice.

Keep in mind that while your environs might help, much of your workplace mood is dependent upon those you work with. Here's to hoping that settings such as these would cut down on the likelihood of working with conservative fundies who harbor almost sexual love of debate and evangelizing or manipulative types who leave you penitent without exactly knowing why.


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