  We investigate the structure of isometric subgraphs of hypercubes (i.e.,
partial cubes) which do not contain finite convex subgraphs contractible to the
3-cube minus one vertex $Q^-_3$ (here contraction means contracting the edges
corresponding to the same coordinate of the hypercube). Extending similar
results for median and cellular graphs, we show that the convex hull of an
isometric cycle of such a graph is gated and isomorphic to the Cartesian
product of edges and even cycles. Furthermore, we show that our graphs are
exactly the class of partial cubes in which any finite convex subgraph can be
obtained from the Cartesian products of edges and even cycles via successive
gated amalgams. This decomposition result enables us to establish a variety of
results. In particular, it yields that our class of graphs generalizes median
and cellular graphs, which motivates naming our graphs hypercellular.
Furthermore, we show that hypercellular graphs are tope graphs of zonotopal
complexes of oriented matroids. Finally, we characterize hypercellular graphs
as being median-cell -- a property naturally generalizing the notion of median
graphs.
