In Santa Monica’s industrial corridor, a 17,000-square-foot building from the 1940s was just a bowstring truss and brick warehouse. Gwynne Pugh Urban Studio was enlisted to redesign the old building’s interior for an international animation company, and the design firm chose to keep the original bones of the building and the polished concrete floors, creating an attractive and environmentally sensitive aesthetic. The centerpiece of the new design is the “cube,” which houses the screening room, two editing rooms, and a central IT room for the entire office. This architectural element has a black band around the bottom, making the cube appear as if its floating in the middle of the space. The studio is covered in natural wood and lit with multiple skylights and energy-efficient lighting.
