Cubicles were the hallmark of a dull, soul-sucking job. Now they seem like paradise lost. In a memorable montage from the 1999 workplace satire "Office Space," Peter Gibbons, a fed-up office drone ...

Robert Propst, a designer for then-home furnishings company Herman Miller, designed the first cubicle. Propst studied how people worked and wanted to improve on the open-bullpen office that he had ...

So, James purchased six cubicles and office chairs for $600. The cubicles replaced the couches, which now sit vertically in the corner of the room. James said her children can still study from ...