US studio West of West has completed a product and marketing hub for sports brand Puma in Los Angeles, featuring a warm, minimalist material palette.
Puma Studios LA functions as an office, showroom and design studio for the brand, while also offering hospitality, entertainment and events programming within a flexible framework.
West of West modelled the space on a workshop, encouraging the display of both completed and in-process designs.
“Centred around the idea of an atelier, a place of instruction, experimentation, and production, where unfinished work, raw materials, and final pieces coexist in the same environment,” said the brand.
Concrete flooring, translucent glass panels, wood finishes and matte aluminium details carry through the majority of spaces, forming a consistent base upon which more character is layered in certain areas.
A centrally positioned, sculptural wood staircase snakes between floors, and the same material lines a library that also houses a deep green velvet carpet and a built-in couch.
The showroom is surrounded by mirrored panels and translucent screens that frame products, and allow the space to be transition for events.
Natural oak casework and aluminium counters in the social hub were chosen to create a welcoming environment for those who gather there daily.
A darker, moodier approach was taken in the boardroom, where suede-effect plaster walls, sheer curtains and a cast-resin table offer a more formal environment.
The complex also includes a Studio48 design workshop, similar to Puma’s sites in Herzogenaurach, Germany, and Boston, USA.
This encompasses a full footwear and apparel material library, facilities for large- and small-scale printing, an array of sewing machines, and moveable pin-up walls and photoshoot backdrops.
A humidity-controlled room houses 3D-printing machines, a DTG printer, laser cutter, and an insulated and venting operating spray room.
“Puma Studio expands the definition of the workplace,” the brand said. “It is part workshop, part theatre, part social commons — a space where making, displaying, and hosting overlap to create an environment that is dynamic, porous, and culturally engaged.”
Housing the workplace, prototype labs, retail showrooms and event spaces in one venue highlights the overlaps between them and encourages experimentation, according to Puma.
“Puma Studio embodies a new model of workplace for the 21st century: an environment where ideas, products, and performances coexist,” said the brand.
“In Los Angeles, a global capital of creativity, the studio is both a home for Puma’s teams and a platform for engaging with the broader culture of the city — an architecture of possibility that anticipates the future of work.”
Puma’s innovations over the past decade include steps towards creating a fully biodegradable shoe and self-lacing trainers that tighten at the swipe of a finger.
West of West has previously proposed a vertical co-living neighbourhood for San Francisco and completed a concrete office complex in Austin.
The photography is by Yoshihiro Makino.
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