The Lighthouse mixes brutalist architecture and contemporary notions of flexibility and collaboration to form Los Angeles’ newest creative hub. Set in an existing building, the 1939-designed Venice Post Office, just one block off the famed Venice Beach Boardwalk, the project was conceived to occupy the liminal space between softness and a robust, industrial-style approach; historical preservation and 21st-century innovation and lifestyle.
The Lighthouse: step inside this brutalist LA office
Its author is Warkentin Associates, headed by former Studio Shamshiri designer Nathan Warkentin. 'I was approached by Lighthouse founder Jon Goss to collaborate with him in creating a “campus” for creators with the opportunity to design a whole world from scratch,' he says.
Warkentin drew on the original art deco structure and the building's bones, and looked to the Bauhaus movement to further develop his design. 'Inspired by Bauhaus principles, the architectural design facilitates a fluid integration of analogue and digital environments, enabling frictionless creativity across multiple disciplines,' says Lighthouse co-founder Jon Goss. 'By reimagining a landmark site for a new generation, The Lighthouse establishes a dynamic setting that fosters experimentation, connectivity, and creative expression at every scale.'
Tackling the fairly raw space, the team got to work and designed much of the interiors using custom pieces, mixed with iconic designs by USM, Artek, Vitra, Herman Miller, Tecta, Emeco, and OMK. The designers wanted to craft a workspace that feels real and tangible, bringing in references such as the aesthetics of nineties college radio, Le Corbusier's architecture, Japanese libraries, and Paul Rudolph.
At the same time, The Lighthouse composes the feeling of a hospitality-led environment that blurs the boundaries between work and social areas. A material palette that mixes metals, wood, glass and concrete inspires juxtapositions of crisp and soft areas that create a lively and engaging office setting. A monumental painting, Abbot Kinney and the Story of Venice, created by Edward Biberman in 1941, was brought back to its original lobby location after a stint at LACMA.
Describing the project in a single sentence, Warkentin says it is 'a fluid blend of innovation, collaboration, and production in a space inspired by Bauhaus principles'.
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