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Meet nimble architectural all-rounders OPEN OFFICE: Your Next Employer?

2022-08-08T09:00:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to New York-based Morris Adjmi Architects, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series west to Los Angeles, where we find OPEN OFFICE.

Recently founded by friends and colleagues Edward Cronin and Reed Webster, the firm has just moved into an office at the architecturally-acclaimed, SelgasCano-designed coworking complex Second Home Hollywood. From there, OPEN OFFICE is building a nimble, collaborative operation to tackle upcoming projects including affordable housing, multifamily, high-end residential, and kit home commissions.

The firm now seeks to expand by advertising for several roles on Archinect Jobs. For candidates interested in applying for a position, or anybody interested in learning more about life as an architect, we spoke with the team at OPEN OFFICE for a behind-the-scenes look at their studio.

OPEN OFFICE's new space at Second Home Hollywood. Image by Drew Rosas

How did OPEN OFFICE get started?

OPEN OFFICE was formed by longtime friend...

Second Home Hollywood pitched as a pandemic-friendly work environment

2020-09-25T15:37:00-04:00

At the end of 2019, Second Home Hollywood opened its doors to the Los Angeles area as a remedy for flipping the script on co-working spaces and a community-driven work environment. Designed by the Madrid-based studio SelgasCano, its fresh take on integrating the indoor-outdoor aesthetic, mixed with lush greenery, open office spaces, and wellness driven design created a working oasis for LA creatives. However, as the pandemic quickly impacted the day-to-day office grind, the transition to working from home forced a new outlook on the future of working in an office and creative workspaces.

Read Archinect's dive into Second Home Hollywood with Eric Lawler. Photograph by Iwan Baan, courtesy of SelgasCano

As California is slowly picking up the pieces and adjusting to COVID-19 safety precautions, businesses are opening; however, office culture is still reshaping its "new normal." Carolina A. Miranda of the LA Times, investigates office spaces in a post-pandemic future. Her case study, Seco...

BIG designs first prototype for affordable vacation home company Klein

2018-08-15T15:12:00-04:00

Behold the first prototype of the Brooklyn-based Klein, a new company that wants to make the process of building small houses more affordable all over the world. A45 is a 13-foot-long wood and glass cabin for one, two, or three people (if one of them is tiny) designed by the Danish architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group [...] meant to be the first of many designs [that will fulfill the fantasy] of having a home outside the city...

Founder Soren Rose started Klein after leading the firm Søren Rose Studio based in New York and Copenhagen. By providing small, cheap, prefab houses the company aims to make vacation home ownership more affordable to a wider audience.

Klein prototype A45 by BIG. Image: Matthew Carbone.

While there are currently no set prices, homes are projected to range from $50,000 to $300,000.

Klein prototype A45 by BIG. Image: Matthew Carbone.

The first prototype, designed by BIG, is the start of several options which will be fully customizable and ready within 6 months of placing an order.

Klein prototype A45 by BIG. Image: Matthew Carbone.

Klein is currently taking preorders on a case by case basis.

Klein prototype A45 by BIG. Image: Matthew Carbone.

From the Tropics to Winter Wonderlands: Second Home is redefining the workplace

2018-01-23T14:29:00-05:00

“We always want people to think ‘What’s that?’ and be drawn inside our buildings,” says Rohan Silva, the 37-year-old co-founder of Second Home, provider of “unique workspaces and cultural venues for entrepreneurs and innovators”. The company opened its first space in Spitalfields, east London, in 2014 and now boasts users ranging from tiny tech startups to the likes of Volkswagen and auditing giant KPMG.

A winter wonderland, a tropic landscape, a colorful explosion of swirling surfaces and walls of color enveloping even the smallest of spaces— one could say that I was describing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's film sets and yet, this could become the description of the modern day office environment if Second Home, a provider of “unique workspaces and cultural venues for entrepreneurs and innovators,” has its way.

Second Home, Holland Park. Photograph: Iwan Baan

One of Second Home's most potent and provocative concepts is how they produce an atmosphere of collaboration within their spaces. While one would normally associate co-working office spaces with tech companies and internet startups, Second Home has controlled and influenced the sectors that are allowed to inhabit its spaces. As clarified by Second Home “If we just let the market ride, Second Home would be full of tech companies, but we’ve only allowed 10%. The services essential for startups, like lawyers, accountants and...

SelgasCano creates a stunning members-only workspace for ‘creative nomads’

2014-12-16T14:04:00-05:00

It is to serve this world that Second Home has come into being, a former carpet factory off Brick Lane in east London within whose seductive interiors a fragment of Superstudio’s techno-nomadism has, possibly, come to pass. [...] The architects are José Selgas and Lucía Cano [...] who have just been announced as the designers of next year’s Serpentine pavilion. They bring to this, their first UK project, lightness and grace as well as invention, and an awareness of when to stop.

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