Santa Monica HQ

A workplace can ask more of people than attendance. Santa Monica HQ answers that question by creating a place of choice, where focused work, casual exchange, and social connection can happen in the same day without feeling forced. The project works with the character of an Art Deco shell: exposed concrete ceilings, visible infrastructure, raw columns, and high steel-framed windows that were beautiful, but awkwardly proportioned. Rather than cover those conditions, the design softens and amplifies them. The central move is the veranda, a linear sequence of varied settings along the window wall that mixes workstations, soft seating, and informal meeting areas. Oversized custom fixtures, including five-foot recycled cardboard lanterns and large fabric-wrapped pendants, bring scale and intimacy to the open structure while giving rhythm to the work zones below. The veranda connects directly to a bar and lounge that functions as a true third place: coffee in the morning, casual meetings during the day, and wine or cocktails after hours. The boardroom was reworked with the same intent. Instead of a formal room used only for scheduled meetings, it becomes a library-like space with two modular tables, banquettes, bookshelves, soft seating, and concealed technology. Most days, the tables stay separate for individual work or small groups; when needed, they join into a larger boardroom configuration. Bleached tones, pale woods, linen-like fabrics, sea-glass greens and blues, textured tile, Roman shades, local furnishings, and the retained raw structure give the office a clear Santa Monica register while making the workplace more adaptable, more human, and more worth returning to.