These Cocoon Cubicles Will Save Your Sanity in an Open Office

Not everyone loves working on an open office. While they do help with collaboration, they often hinder productivity because of the constant noise and interruptions. Furniture company Steelcase is going back to basics with a mini cubicle that is meant to provide employees with a quiet space to work. Called Brody, the space cocoons users in a comfy place where they can work quietly. Plus, no one can sneak up on you -- if someone wants to talk to you, you'll see them coming.

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Steelcase promises that Brody will help with concentration, saying they have neuroscience research to support them. The design itself was inspired by the way students look for quiet spaces in a library where they can concentrate, but also a place to stretch out.

"We had kind of an intuitive understanding of how people liked to study. As the project developed, and as we started diving into what it means to focus and why someone would want to escape, these new findings really helped guide the project," said Mark McKenna, director of product design at Steelcase.

Brody is based on the idea of flow -- heightened productivity that lasts for up to 45 minutes.

"It became an exercise in [looking at] what humans need to sustain their attention, which led to a study of distraction," McKenna said.

Steelcase also wanted to ensure that with Brody there were no other distractions, so users can hyper focus on a single task at a time.

"The average office worker gets distracted every 11 minutes, and takes 23 minutes to get back on task. Add those two things up, and most people never get into flow," said McKenna.

To help eliminate distractions, Brody comes equipped with a privacy screen on three sides. There is also a work surface with an adjustable tilt to ensure workers don't have to hunch over, a footrest, armrest, and a pocket for personal items under the work surface.

Brody will be available beginning this summer or fall (a release date hasn't ben announced yet), starting at $2700.

H/T Fast Company