Office Inspired by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

June 14, 2007 4:20 PM

I'm officially jealous of the people who get to work in this office workspace custom designed to look like Captain Nemo's Nautilus, from 20,000 Leagues. Via.
posted by jonson (28 comments total)

More images available in this Wired Photoset.
posted by jonson at 4:21 PM on June 14, 2007

forget the Captin Nemo. I want an office with a fully stocked bar
posted by Megafly at 4:24 PM on June 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

I would be curious to know how that would influence productivity...
posted by old blue eyes at 4:26 PM on June 14, 2007

When I saw this it made me long for Bioshock even more.

Useless anecdote maybe but I really love the theme.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 4:29 PM on June 14, 2007

Especially with this wallpaper. Check out these trippy Willy-Wonka-esque designs
posted by old blue eyes at 4:29 PM on June 14, 2007

So...many...fantastic tentacles. (Looks at pile of fabric, wonders how much foam she'd need...)
posted by cobaltnine at 4:31 PM on June 14, 2007

God that's hideous. About as tacky as you could get, it looks like a 'themed' weighting room in a children's hospital or something.

And everything looks so cheap
posted by delmoi at 4:35 PM on June 14, 2007

Love the tentacles. But it all looks a bit tacky, in a Disney-store way.
posted by WPW at 4:36 PM on June 14, 2007

Tacky? You mean tackier than my cubicle?
posted by Roger Dodger at 4:37 PM on June 14, 2007

I'm curious about the custom-designed desks. According to the article, everyone got to design their own desk. I have to wonder what's going to happen when someone leaves, and someone new comes in. Does the new person get stuck with the desk someone else designed, or does the old person keep their custom desk, and they build an all new one?
posted by nomisxid at 4:39 PM on June 14, 2007

The tentacle couch is sweeeeet.

Same company designed the lobby through which I walk daily. Quality stuff.
posted by gnutron at 4:41 PM on June 14, 2007

I bet a lot of work gets done there.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 4:44 PM on June 14, 2007

I'm not sure whether or not I like that flat look on everything. At least they're being consistent with it, and I suppose one's eyes might eventually, should I say, suspend their disbelief.

And the tentacle couch really is neat.
posted by Anything at 4:46 PM on June 14, 2007

Tacky? You mean tackier than my cubicle?

I mean it as in "kitsch, tawdry and cringe-inspiring".

Cubicles are the bad smell rising from the death of open-plan. They're problematic in a number of ways, and often look cheap and nasty (that is, tawdry). That's because companies tend not to put any money or effort into them. This design has had a great deal of money and close attention put into it, and still looks a bit cheap and nasty. That's the added tacky quality.
posted by WPW at 4:47 PM on June 14, 2007

and a dreamcast in the entertainment center! hear hear!
posted by pokermonk at 4:47 PM on June 14, 2007

The LED table they made is AWE. FUCKING. SOME.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 4:56 PM on June 14, 2007 [1 favorite]

I think they went too far. If they's stopped about half-way it would be fantastic. I also suspect that I'm deeply, deeply jealous.

My, is it just me or are these grapes really sour?
posted by lekvar at 5:04 PM on June 14, 2007

I've been there, though not since they've finished it. It's that cool. The people who work there, though, are so cool that they make the office look uncool by comparison. Three Rings is a truly, unbelievably awesome group of people from the CEO on down.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:12 PM on June 14, 2007

nomisxid are you seriously telling us you could leave a job that provides a fully stocked bar?
posted by Grod at 5:57 PM on June 14, 2007

Tacky?

I keep my desk fairly neat and tidy, unlike my home. One day (when I was still fairly new here), I left for lunch and returned to find my desk, cabinets, cube walls and even my trays covered in blue Post-It notes, only one of which had any actual writing on it: "We thought your desk was kind of boring." Signed, my co-workers.

Now that is tacky office design.
posted by katillathehun at 6:05 PM on June 14, 2007

Man that's going to be an interesting auction when they go out of business.
posted by Muddler at 6:37 PM on June 14, 2007

The LED table they made is AWE. FUCKING. SOME.

Mmmmm, tasty photodiodes.
posted by IronLizard at 7:28 PM on June 14, 2007

I can't wait for that place to go out of business, if only to offer one of the workers to say: "we're going under everyone!"
posted by m2002 at 1:02 AM on June 15, 2007

Great business practise, kudos to the company.

I would, though, like to note that this photo bothers me.
In the centre, there are flat painted wooden cut-outs meant to be evocative of pipes and junctions along the walls.
Whereas to the right, there are REAL pipes and junctions along the walls, but they've been painted over to try to render them invisible!

Iron-Fisted Art Direction? :)
posted by -harlequin- at 2:12 AM on June 15, 2007

Damn, I so want to work there. I bet the bastards even get to bring their dogs to work. I hate these people.
posted by Ber at 7:03 AM on June 15, 2007 [1 favorite]

and a dreamcast in the entertainment center!

Our entertainment center is a Bunnmatic coffee maker. With three burners!
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 7:15 AM on June 15, 2007

What Ber said. Gah, I would do anything to work in a place that trippy.

Also I wonder if they know of 826 Valencia a pretty neat store in SF. Same sensibilities and coolness.

thanks for finding this!
posted by rmm at 12:32 AM on June 16, 2007

Glub.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 5:40 PM on June 18, 2007