Following last week’s visit to Culver City-based Johnson Favaro, we are keeping our Meet Your Next Employer series in California this week to explore the work of ShubinDonaldson.

Led by partners Russell Shubin, Robin Donaldson, and Mark Hershman, the firm comprises 40 staff spread across offices in Culver City, Santa Barbara, and Orange County. Describing their approach as being “informed by modernism, craft, and a culture of experimentation,” the firm’s portfolio spans mixed-use, workplace, retail, multifamily, and custom residential typologies.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring a Project Coordinator for commercial projects to join its Culver City office. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning more about the studio’s work, we have rounded up five workplaces by ShubinDonaldson that demonstrate their design approach.

3101 West Coast Highway

Located at Mariner’s Mile in Newport Beach, CA, ShubinDonaldson’s project at 3101 West Coast Highway saw the renovation and adaptive reuse of a cramped 1980s building into a contemporary workplace. Existing embellishments were removed to enhance the clean, timeless geometry of the existing gabbled roofs, while selected dormers were demolished to create inset terraces allowing fresh air and natural light into the workspaces.

Inside, floor slabs were removed to create double-height spaces, existing window openings were made full height, and prominent street and bayside gables walls were opened up with floor-to-ceiling curtain walls. Outside, meanwhile, an existing boat storage area has been converted into a plaza with planters and custom teak furniture, while outdoor patios along the east façade were added to improve the connection between the interior and exterior.

BCG Los Angeles Headquarters

Set inside the top two floors of one of Los Angeles’ tallest buildings, the Boston Consulting Group Headquarters seeks to accommodate BCG’s high volume of nomadic staff. As the workspace is typically at 25% occupancy, ShubinDonaldson’s proposal created a series of non-assigned custom workspaces in various configurations.

The headquarters’ 210 workstations are supported by 24 private offices and 30 meeting rooms clustered towards the interior, thus leaving the perimeter of the floors open to enhance accessibility to panoramic views of Los Angeles. Elsewhere, the headquarters is anchored by what the design team has dubbed the ‘hanging garden,’ composed of a thin, steel-rod lattice supporting a lush, meditative garden.

MASH Studios

Described by the design team as a “design laboratory,” the MASH studios campus saw the rehabilitation of three existing light manufacturing buildings from 1951, as well as intertwined exterior spaces. In their adaption of the structures, the team sought to preserve the nature of the existing structures, through sandblasting wooden structures and poured concrete, and polishing and lightly repairing concrete slab floors.

“For the past 15 years, Mash Studios has been a pioneer in the invention of a uniquely Southern Californian brand of semi-custom workplace furniture,” ShubinDonaldson explains. “Having a strong influence on the behaviors and trends of modern workplaces, Mash was looking to apply their insider know-how into a new office-home for themselves. Ultimately, we created an inspiring and high-performance shell wherein a well-crafted and modern office would exist for people who design and make furniture.”

720 Cahuenga

Located in the Hollywood Media District, ShubinDonaldson’s project at 720 Cahuenga saw the creation of a newly renovated campus of three adjoining warehouses. Originally a prop house for Hollywood sets, the campus’ 33,000 square foot office building sees a “series of eclectic material selections and varying volumes of space, borrowing elements from private social clubs and collaborative open office environments.”

Much of the building’s industrial characteristics were preserved and exposed, most prominently the warehouses’ 30-foot bow-trussed ceilings. Raw materials such as wood, steel, concrete, and metal were used to maintain an industrial flavor and echo the authenticity of the area, while on the exterior, narrow slits in the building’s façade allow the public to catch a glimpse of what is happening inside.

Anacapa Studios

Described by the firm as a “creative compound for living and working,” Anacapa Studios functions as the office for ShubinDonaldson’s 20 Santa Barbara employees as well as a residence for partner Robin Donaldson and his family. The mixed-use complex is composed of three separate 4000-square-foot buildings, with a fragmented massing responding to the urban grain of the surrounding commercial/manufacturing neighborhood.

The front building contains a gallery space and a public storefront facing Anacapa Street for the display of creative projects built either on the campus or in collaboration with other fabricators. Each building also features a residential unit on the upper floors, featuring high-ceiling loft-like spaces with generous patios, rooftop decks, and a solar-powered hot tub.

Meet Your Next Employer is one of a number of ongoing weekly series showcasing the opportunities available on our industry-leading job board. Our Job Highlights series looks at intriguing and topical employment opportunities currently available on Archinect Jobs, while our weekly roundups curate job opportunities by location, career level, and job description.