Avant-Garde Offices: The Smoffice

(CC) The Smoffice

The Smoffice, this week’s Avant-Garde Offices star, is an itty-bitty workspace about the size of a bathroom. The office was created as a part of Durham, North Carolina’s Smoffice contest, which aims to “highlight the importance of the coffee shop in the entrepreneurial world,” as Chamber of Commerce startup strategist Adam Klein described to Fast Company.

During the monthlong contest, companies competed for six months of free rent in a 30-square-foot office space with Wi-Fi, tech assistance and a downtown condo. As you can see from the sketch above, the space is so small that it’s essentially a storefront window.

So who won? The Makery, a company created by three sisters that focuses on flash sales. Just wait until the citizens of Durham see the trio set up shop in what may be one of the country’s smallest office spaces.

Is the Smoffice a startup gimmick, or could it lead to a corporate revolution?