A few months ago, we explored the joy of Schrebergartenglück, a term translated as “the joy of spending some time in a small garden plot in the middle of many other small garden plots.” The Hütten Palast hotel in Berlin attempted to capture the elusive concept with an unusual lodging arrangement, haphazardly arranging caravans and small wooden huts inside a warehouse interior. We were reminded of the delightful indoor campground when we came across the new office for Canadian creative services agency The Metrick System. Moving into a 5,800 square-foot industrial space in Toronto with soaring 17-foot tall ceilings, The Metrick System chose to occupy the space with a series of reclaimed Airstream trailers. More after the jump.

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We hope that the end of the cubicle is nigh, and we enthusiastically suggest replacing those alienating three walls with Tetra-Shed, an adaptive work space whose form changes according to the user’s preference or mood. Designed by London’s David Ajasa-Adekunle, the shed is being billed as the ideal personal workspace for use in your home and backyard or, assuming your boss is game or, of course, you are your own boss, at your place of work. A large triangular void marks the entrance to the tent-like pod, whose faceted geometry offers several opportunities to open up or close off the space to the outside world and the ability to combine several different cubicles in 11 different formations. Here’s hoping that the Architizer HQ will be strewn with clusters of these little guys, with employees burrowing through the labyrinth of Tetra-Forts (Gizmodo’s term) just to get to the kitchen. Imagine the rivalry fomenting between in-house softball teams, or more accurately for our office, backgammon clubs, with the Accounting Cluster pitted against Editorial, or Social Media Warren hitting up against the meager troop of interns.  The Tetra-Shed will become available in early 2012. Click through for more photos!

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Film stills courtesy of the filmmaker

With 38 days left for our World’s Coolest Offices competition, we have been in a fever for innovative workplaces from around the globe. We were beginning to wonder if gaming tables and centerpiece furniture were fast on their way to becoming office design standards. However, a recent project by filmmaker Zaheed Mawani has brought us back to a grim reality. “Three Walls” is Mawani’s documented investigation of the life and times of the office cubicle. Click to explore the deeper issues behind one of the most banal yet potent architectural elements today.

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