Architect, LMA and Interior Designer, DesignAgency, partnered on this adaptive reuse project that sensitively and sustainably preserves the character of the 1920s structure, providing a private workspace for the creative community of Venice, California. Opening a year ago, the project is already recognized as a cultural hub, with coworking areas, dining options, and elevated programming.

The project comprises two neighboring, previously unreinforced masonry buildings with a shared party wall, which was opened up to create a single 17,000-square-foot structure. Programs include private studios, open workstations interspersed with lounge settings, and specialty programs such as an art gallery, broadcast room, and wellness room. The project team helped orchestrate a complete seismic retrofit, taking great care to preserve the character of the 100-year-old structure.

Drawing inspiration from the urban beachside setting and Southern California’s history as an epicenter of modernism, the design concept includes furniture and lighting that are simple and organic, expressed with luxurious and textured natural materials. Locally crafted custom furniture is dialed in to complement the patinated brick structure. The interior walls were stripped of plaster and drywall to reveal the original red brick. All of the bricks from the demolished party wall were reused to repair these interior walls. The building’s century-old brick façade remains almost perfectly intact.

Large ground floor windows take up almost the entire street-facing façade allowing ample, filtered light into the lounge and reception area. Retrofitted skylights and clerestory windows in the coworking areas bring controlled natural light deep into the space. The windows lining the 2nd-floor restaurant space were retrofitted with highly efficient double-hung glazing while keeping the original frames intact, maintaining the historic character of the space while enhancing the warm daylight and assuring a comfortable and efficient atmosphere. The storefront glazing along the ground floor was also swapped out for super-efficient IGUs.

The firm executed the installation of a large folding glass garage door that opens up the gallery to the sidewalk, a gesture that extends cultural programming to the street and creates a more inviting relationship with the block. The flow between indoor and outdoor space continues on the rooftop patio, with NeueHouse’s in-house food and beverage program ‘Reunion.’ Mediterranean plants surround and a wooden trellis patio cover has been installed overhead to provide shelter from the sun.