YOURspace delivers a portable pod of peace and quiet for any room of your home.
With so many of us Zooming through our days amidst a maelstrom of family, pets, deliveries, laundry, and other distractions, finding a quiet corner can prove nearly impossible. That was certainly the case for local entrepreneur David Faust, who recently created a solution that’s just a flat-packed box away.
“With four kids under the age of 14 schooling from home and an otherwise busy household, finding privacy to get things done was a challenge,” Faust says. “I found myself longing for a little room I could call my own, and that sparked the creation of YOURspace,” a portable office space that you can pop up anywhere—from kitchen to living room to garage.
Faust, now YOURspace’s CEO, developed the concept and design with his business partner, Debbie Parrott, the CEO of Highmark TechSystems, an Indiana-based manufacturer of modular systems and wall units for exhibits and events. The YOURspace units are also modular and completely customizable. They’re based on an extruded aluminum structure and come in 11 sizes ranging from 5 by 3.5 feet (17.5 square feet) to 11.3 by 8.4 feet (94.92 square feet).
With more than a dozen exterior and interior finishes—from plain white to “weathered pallet” shiplap—combined with easy assembly and disassembly, the units bridge the gap between furniture and architecture. “You can easily change the look of the pod if you move it to another room or environment,” Faust says. Options including window openings, magnetic dry-erase panels, lighting, hardware, desks, and shelving can be arranged to suit your specific needs. Sound-dampening features, a central electric panel, integrated ethernet ports, and exhaust fans for air ventilation provide functional flexibility. And the whole unit is strong enough that it can remain floor-less, so it can be placed over existing flooring and vents.
Prices vary, but Faust says the basic, smallest YOURspace units start at $6,995, with free domestic shipping and handling. They take about three weeks after ordering to arrive, and the average assembly time is less than 90 minutes, with step-by-step instructions, tools, and hardware included.
Though the pods were originally designed for use as a home office, “we quickly realized we were not giving our units enough credit,” Faust says. “We have had people reach out to us to configure their pods for education centers for home schooling, universities are using them in common areas on campus, corporations set them up for meeting rooms, and manufacturers use the larger units as standalone offices on their production floors.”
What’s next? Faust and his team have developed a new collapsible partition system with a built-in desk that mimics a cubicle, and a two-wall pod that fits into the corner of an existing room. Both units can be folded down and stored when not in use. And, just in time for warmer weather, YOURspace is planning to launch an outdoor pod, which just might make another summer of working from home a little more feasible.
Read more at 5280.
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