DesignworksUSA, BMW’s global design consultancy group, was looking to move from their previous studio to a more central location in Santa Monica. kdA was approached to renovate a new 16,000SF studio in response to Designworks’ changing methods of design and production, from traditional full-scale prototyping to virtual reality and material explorations. The studio now needed more flexible workspace and immersive client facing spaces.

The response was to consolidate the group’s primary needs into a single intervention as an infrastructural backbone. Organized as a series of client facing conference rooms and an immersive presentation room with a 20’x6’ projection screen. The backbone acts as an acoustic and security separation between guests and the studio’s confidential work, a spine to distribute MEP infrastructure, and a backdrop for the studio.

Facing the studio an articulated surface masks the distribution of MEP infrastructure while integrating acoustical performance in a predominantly open workspace. The infrastructural backbone organizes future flexibility as Designworks evolves and needs upgrades.