Gulla Jónsdóttir Atelier
Los Angeles
Gulla Jónsdóttir’s new West Hollywood Atelier has brought the designer full circle. Located in the Design District, the space was home to her first office when Icelandic designer launched her namesake architecture and design firm in 2009. She was forced to leave when construction started on the Kimpton La Peer Hotel, which she also happened to design. On a site visit a few weeks before its opening, however, she found her former studio vacant, with the owners shopping vendors to rent it out. Jónsdóttir, enticed by the thought of returning to her roots, convinced them to let her turn it into a combined studio and gallery space (her office is a five-minute walk away). Known as the Atelier, the concrete-clad space is evocative of Jónsdóttir’s signature sensual aesthetic. “I made sure the colors and style would fit within that environment, although it’s rawer than a refined hotel,” she says. The neutral scheme allows her to change the décor often, peppering the space with pieces from Jónsdóttir’s own furniture collection and actors-turned-artists Billy Zane and Val Kilmer, among others, including Robert Vargas and Alejandro Lopez. In addition, a large, moveable concrete screen acts as a backdrop for video wall projections. “It’s a flexible space to have meetings and gatherings,” she says. Plus, being attached to the hotel she designed has its perks. “The friendly staff at the front desk will sometimes bring me a glass of wine for happy hour—I couldn’t be happier.”
BIG
Brooklyn, New York
BIG’s (Bjarke Ingels Group) move from Lower Manhattan to a 50,000-square-foot space in Brooklyn’s effortlessly hip DUMBO location fosters a sense of creativity for the more than 250 architects who work there. This is due in large part to an open layout and a handful of inventive work areas, including two large fabrication and assembly spaces for woodworking and digital creations, as well as a gallery space nestled between the firm’s sample library and exhibition shelves. Further, a private rooftop connects the space with the neighborhood, taking in views of the East River and the Brooklyn Bridge. BIG’s Scandinavian origins come into play with furniture (including color-coded scoop chairs in glass-enclosed meeting rooms) and a grid of 150 pendants on the space’s north side designed by Danish firm and frequent collaborator KiBiSi. “The visual excitement and physical proximity to downtown Manhattan combined with DUMBO’s artistic spirit and access to public space feels like our native Copenhagen, making it as ‘Scandimerican’ as any place I can think of,” says founder Bjarke Ingels.
Woods Bagot
Shanghai
Woods Bagot’s new Shanghai studio, one of 15 across the globe, was a chance to highlight the hard work of the 120-member team. To achieve this, the firm incorporated a central “street” that connects maker spaces and a 3D printing area, while also displaying drawings on pin-up boards and building models on bleacher-like shelving. “The aesthetic is raw and authentic, with the bones of the building available for everyone to see,” says firm principal Carsten Lange. The street also leads to a bar flanked by conference rooms, dubbed workshops, and a spacious lounge that doubles as an event space. In fact, many of the collaborative workspaces have “evolved into multipurpose areas,” he adds. “Our goal was to make a place that would spur collaboration and showcase design, both as inspiration and a product of the firm.”
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Project Interiors
Chicago
The former office for Project Interiors’ six-person team was a petite 650-square-foot space located beneath firm principal Aimee Wertepny’s home. “Stepping into the bathroom, hallway, or my apartment to take a private call was getting old,” she says. The upgraded 6,200-square-foot West Town Chicago location of the firm is what she calls “a mullet warehouse—business in the front, party in the back.” Upon entering through the black-painted brick façade, the main lounge adopts the brand’s quirky personality with rattan swings and tribal-inspired stools. Concrete floors, a 65-foot-long skylight, and a bow truss roof were left intact to retain the building’s industrial character, with Wertepny’s favorite element, the camper-turned-lounge—purchased off eBay and nicknamed Stefie—serving as the nucleus of the office. Between that and the semiprivate office spaces constructed to resemble huts, she took the challenge of finding “cozy nooks within a large warehouse” head-on. “So much love is woven into this place it could burst,” she adds.
Workstead
Hudson, New York
Occupying a renovated Queen Anne-style building from the 1880s, Workstead’s Hudson, New York office “showcases our work to prospective and existing clients while also allowing our products team to continue to grow,” says principal Robert Highsmith. Filled with Workstead’s own lighting and items the designers have collected over time, including Highsmith’s grandfather’s midcentury conference table, the studio is also outfitted with historic details and accessories sourced from local craftspeople. “We wanted to create a space that had clear touchpoints from the surrounding Hudson Valley,” he says. The red brick and carved sandstone façade, along with coffered ceilings, maintains the building’s Old World feel, while parquet floors, wainscoting, two fireplaces with their original tiles, and pressed paper ceilings pay tribute to the local aesthetic.
Sybille de Margerie
Florence
With her headquarters in Paris, Sybille de Margerie now splits her time with a second studio in Florence, “a city I love for all its art and historic heritage,” she says. In her new office, found in a listed Renaissance building, de Margerie injected modern details throughout, including white glass and steel desks accompanied by a circular lacquered table, which make up the work stations for the eight employees. For an ornate touch, gold-plated panels, damask upholstery, old terracotta tiles, enameled ceramics, and decorative fittings on the ceiling were left untouched. The standouts in the space, however, are the varying glass chandeliers—most sourced from a small vintage shop in Florence and an antique market in the nearby town of Arezzo—as well as the weighty Cocoon Zeppelin fixture, bringing attention to the ceiling’s historic décor. “My ambition is to find the right balance between modernity, innovation, and culture,” de Margerie says. “This office is a perfect example of my philosophy.”
KKAD
Newark, New Jersey
Moving from the small town of Chester, New Jersey into a four-story building in Newark, KKAD’s new office feels more akin to a luxury residential loft than a workspace thanks to elements like pressed tin ceilings, walnut kitchen cabinets and counters, and expansive windows with city views. “In Newark, we are plugged into a larger urban fabric and thinking about our projects being true to their locations is easier when you feel a connection to your own,” says principal Kraig Kalashian. The firm’s 14 employees are encouraged to take meetings and have meals in the office’s multipurpose spaces, which include pin-up spots for critiquing the work of their peers. In addition to snug lounge areas, custom workstations resemble library carrels rather than cubicles, he says, pointing to details like the private task lamps found at each desk. To encourage interaction and impromptu meetings, the space is purposely open and inviting, so designers aren’t working in a vacuum. “We didn’t want a space where people sat at their desks for 10 hours a day,” he says.
BHDM, New York
Simplicity was key for BHDM’s refreshed New York headquarters. “I prefer a simple black and white palette as a backdrop for all our design [work],” says founder Dan Mazzarini. Floors were painted a glossy white to contrast black found in pendants, seating, and window frames. “We wanted a more polished persona to host our clients,” he says. “Functionally, this office has been a huge gamechanger for us,” noting the inclusion of phone booths, a kitchen, a material library, and extra desk accommodations for the growing team. Open desks encourage greater collaboration, while the 16-foot-high pocket doors on the main conference room can open into the reception area, which, Mazzarini notes, doubles as a dance floor. A couple items on the founder’s wish list also made it into the space, including a door to his office and rosé on tap. “I was able to check almost all the boxes, including the rosé,” he says.
Ware Malcomb
San Diego
Ware Malcomb’s 50-person San Diego office emphasizes interconnectivity via communal and private meeting spaces, including a lounge at reception that opens to the outside through a rolling garage door. “This hospitality-inspired amenity not only serves as an event space, but also as an alternative work area,” says the firm’s director of interior architecture and design, Angela Ryan. “It instantly creates a welcoming feeling when you enter the office.” The concrete exterior continues inside to contrast purposeful light-filled skylights. Strategically placed along the window line, work stations, visible from all angles, “allow team members to have access to natural light,” Ryan says, while also “helping nurture relationships and connections in our office.”
Michael Fiebrich Design
Singapore
Michael Fiebrich’s previous office was a Colonial bungalow outside Singapore’s city center, “which felt like going to work at a tropical resort,” he says. “It was important to us to bring a piece of that identity into our new space, as it always served us well in terms of creativity.” Located in the Geylang within a century-old shophouse, the 15-person team stripped the building to its bones and unearthed exposed trusses and a two-story high vaulted ceiling that the team left intact. For the interiors, steel and glass partitions recall a modern loft and a marble-topped island is the central artery, perfect for holding presentation boards and various samples organized by color. Further, Fiebrich married Asian and Colonial elements to conjure a sense of place and evoke “a more casual feel where we can meet and present easily and freely.”
