Prefab garden office for your Kelowna home or recreational property?

"You've got several sales calls to make, but the dog is barking his head off, your teenager's music is coming through the walls, and there's just no air or light in your basement storage closet-slash-home office. You have no downtown office tower to escape to, even if you desperately wanted to. But you don't have to: Just head out the back door and into your yard. Don't forget to bring the coffee mug; you'll be comfy out there.

That is, if you have an OfficePOD, the latest of several prefab garden offices coming out on the market.

As the work-where-you-live concept evolves from the stereotype of telemarketing in your pyjamas, some of-the-times U.K. entrepreneurs have conceived of a home office solution that gets you away from the desk in the basement, and into an office with a superb view -- as long as you've tended your garden.

The OfficePOD ( officepod.co.uk)is, as its name implies, a self-contained unit that could be called the urbane cousin to MetroSheds, the purveyor of detached easy-to-assemble insta-rooms. Like a MetroShed, an OfficePOD fits in your backyard. It was conceived as a response to the frustration of commuting with its road congestion, pollution and stress. And ersatz home offices. OfficePOD managing director David Forbes says his product not only provides a green and cost-efficient delineation between home and office but is the "next generation of garden office, as visual as it is environmental."

The company commissioned British architecture firm Tate Hindie to design their prefab office. The modular unit is designed in such a way that it won't overwhelm a garden space. It's got a footprint of 2.1x2.1 metres, with an integrated desk and plenty of eye-catching storage spaces. Both drawers and shelf space are made of recycled slatted wood. Glass encloses the office, which can be shuttered with a wood sliding door.

Indeed, it's so cool looking it would not seem out of place on Tom Ford's Single Man set.

In the same vein, Archipod ( archipod.co.uk),another recently launched U.K.-designed office garden, is a spherical pod that looks a little like a giant pine cone. Less Single Man and more Lost in Space, it measures 9x10 feet and is covered in cedar shingles. Its ecological credentials include FSC-certified timber, an electric panel radiator, recycled fibreglass insulation and a roof dome that lets in natural daylight. Inside, there's an integrated semi-circular desk. For many, garden offices will recall the clubhouse of their childhood. Remember your own private space in the backyard? Your imagination was at its most fertile, wasn't it? Maybe it will be the same in your workpod.

"It's interesting and timely that companies are seeking to solve the dilemma of how to best enable individuals to work at home," says Sarah Richardson, host of HGTV's Sarah's House. "A common challenge of home offices is the overall lack of designated, efficient work space separated from home life."

The OfficePOD can be assembled in a day -- and while not exactly mobile -- it can be disassembled. It was launched on the market at last year's Grand Designs Live -- the U.K.'s largest design show and, for the moment, is only available there, although, Mr. Forbes says, the company is planning to install their first OfficePOD on the roof garden of a high-rise beachfront apartment in Monte Carlo. (The structure weighs 1,000 kilograms.) The company has plans to expand, with Australia, the U.S., Canada and France at the top of the list of countries expressing interest. The Netherlands, a country known for its cramped spaces and innovations in overcoming them, is also particularly keen to develop garden-office culture.

When MetroShed ( metroshed.com)came on the market, it touted its Ikea-like simplicity. The standard model ships as a flatpack and is assembled by the buyer. (The company will also custom design a shed to your specifications.) OfficePOD, however, is assembled by two team members from the company, who pay several visits pre-setup. The first consultation is to determine the best location in your garden for the pod. They come back to set up electric connection -- juice is taken from either the garage or the house, with non-obtrusive wiring, Mr. Forbes says-- and the third visit is to install it. This comes at a price: £14,950 to be exact (that's about $25,000), which might be incentive enough to increase work productivity. Corporations can also lease pods for employees for £5,000 per year. Price aside, the pods do raise questions. Might one feel like a goldfish in a bowl, working alone in a glass-fronted pod, or perhaps like a piece of conceptual art on display? Mr. Forbes doesn't think so, saying that the increased commonality of garden offices will dispel such concerns.

Ms. Richardson also wonders if garden offices would affect the private outdoor space most people cherish and celebrate. If you park that workspace in your backyard, she wonders, will you feel like the office is always following you. "Can you enjoy the barbecue?," she wonders.

And would Canadians really feel comfortable using it in the middle of negative-double-digit winters?

Ms. Richardson sees another use for the OfficePOD. "I do love the idea of installing this in a rural environment where you could be surrounded by incredible vistas and it could be a think tank for creativity."

("Sent the memo? Check. Mowed the lawn? Check" prepared by Karen Burshtein/National Post)



Another to solution to more space is to upsize to another home and keep your office space "inside"! To see if you can make that transition work with your budget my pleasure to hear from you to work through the numbers and options.! june@juneconway.com OR 250.317.3136