Dixon believes that these satellite offices represent a fundamental shift in the dynamic between workers and the workplace. In the past, workers were expected to migrate to the workplace, taking trains and (later on) cars into the city, because that's where the jobs were. Now the workplace is following the workers to the burbs, where they want to be. "By the time my three-year-old son is working, commuting will be a totally foreign concept," Dixon says. "His generation will look back and wonder, 'Why did they ever do that?'"

If people can work anywhere, the challenge at Regus is making the office the most attractive option. Convenience is only part of the appeal. The idea, says Gaudreau, is to do for offices what Oriole Park at Camden Yards does for ballparks. It draws people to Baltimore not just for a baseball game but for the overall experience. People arrive well before the game to catch a concert on Eutaw Street, to have a picnic above the bullpen, or to people-watch outside the railroad warehouse beyond right field. It's as much a park as it is a ballpark.

Likewise, a Regus business center is designed to be more than a mere office. "I call it a 'destination workplace,' " says Dixon. "When I talk to customers, I listen for the word 'enjoy.' The office should be fun. If you enjoy yourself, you'll do your best work, and you'll look forward to coming back."

Regus centers offer amenities and a community that employees don't have when they work at home. Many feature fitness rooms, and some even have a soccer field or a basketball court. By design, they're located near pubs, restaurants, and retail stores. Because people are working longer hours, and often less-predictable hours, says Boulton, it's important to "make them feel more comfortable about the time that they're spending at work. They can meet people in a less formal atmosphere. They can do things other than work, which gives them the energy to work hard later."

The cybercafé at Stockley Park has a kitchen and lounge with a television, a news ticker, and colorful iMacs for free Web surfing. "It's a great place to seat visitors or to meet informally," Invisix's Steele says of the spacious, courtyard-style plaza. It's also a great place for people from different companies using the same Regus center to get acquainted. Caroline Richards, the manager at the Covent Garden center in London, promotes this sense of community through a newsletter, the "Covent Garden Grapevine," and occasional customer breakfasts. "We want to respect customers' privacy -- for instance, we don't give out a list of the clients based here -- but we also want to provide opportunities for them to connect," says Richards. Once customers realize who's working down the hall, they might decide to do business together or refer clients to one another.

Cambourne, the center that epitomizes Dixon's vision of the destination workplace of the future, is still under construction. It is scheduled to open this year outside Cambridge, England. Regus will be the first tenant in this joint-development project, which features a high-tech office park and a residential community. The offices and homes are being wired together, so that residents will be able to log onto their company's computer system from home. They'll also be able to walk to the office. Ideally, Boulton says, when the conference and training facilities are idle on weekends, they could be used by community groups. "The office becomes a living building, part of the community surrounding it," he says.

Dixon hopes -- no, believes -- that one day business centers will be as commonplace as post offices, libraries, and grocery stores. Every town will have one or more, and people will not only work there, but also congregate there. It's a vision of the future that borrows from the past, when small towns were connected by much simpler technology -- the telegraph and the telephone. "If you're going to do something, I think that you might as well do something that affects how people live and work," Dixon says. "If we get it right, we have an opportunity to change the world. I want to do justice to the opportunity. I tell our employees that we're just getting started."

Chuck Salter (csalter@fastcompany.com) , a Fast Company senior writer based in Baltimore, works out of a home office. Contact Bob Gaudreau (rgaudreau@regususa.com) by email, or learn more about Regus on the Web (www.regus.com) .

Sidebar: Meet the Head Coach

Bob Gaudreau's office represents a concept that's even more unconventional than the Regus model for instant offices: the office as metaphor. When Gaudreau moved back to the States in 1998, after working for Regus in the UK for seven years, he gave himself a new job title: coach. Then he remodeled his Purchase, New York office with a photo backdrop of stands, fans, and a scoreboard; a popcorn machine; and yes, an actual baseball diamond and dubbed it all the "dugout." "I bet that I'm the only one in business who has a ball field in his office," he says. "It's awesome."