Photo: BMW
Not many companies get to celebrate 50 years since inception. A recent McKinsey study discovered that a company's average lifespan has shrunk from 61 years in 1958 to less than 18 years today. Well, BMW Group's DesignworksUSA turned 50 years last month. But that's not all. The Bavarian automaker has also moved its design U.S. headquarters from Newbury Park to Santa Monica, California.
Chuck Pelly funded DesignworksUSA in 1972. Its U.S. headquarters has been at Newbury Park for the last 34 years. The design studio, which started as a consultancy, became a BMW subsidiary in 1995 with additional outposts in Munich and Shanghai.
Perhaps the most non-automotive design studio in the industry, BMW's DesignworksUSA is a powerhouse with notable design awards and accolades over the years.
Some of its noteworthy work includes the futuristic camper concept of North Face, David Letterman's livery for the new hybrid BMW race car, and business class cabins for EVA Air.
The new design studio meant to house its 65 employees was opened on Monday. It's a downshift in footage from 70,000 square feet to 16,000 square feet. According to BMW Group's design director, Adrian Van Hooydonk, the shift is a response to current work-life balance demands.
He told Bloomberg that the group didn't want to subject its employees to LA's notorious 101 highway, especially after coming out of Covid's 'work from home' period that has lasted roughly three years.
The new space's minimalistic nature is characterized by Scandinavian-style furniture that features warm wood, chocolate browns, and orange tones. The typical hybrid office has small booths, group tables, and individual workstations.
A notable omission in the design studio is clay model staging – traditionally used in automotive design. According to Van Hooydonk, such large spaces aren't necessary today since most design work has shifted from physical to digital spaces in computers.
"The space is still just large enough to put a car model in and to look at that if you want to do a check. But the ways of working that we have now are far more connected with Munich. Far more digital. We felt that the footprint of the studio needed to reflect that," he added.
Perhaps the most non-automotive design studio in the industry, BMW's DesignworksUSA is a powerhouse with notable design awards and accolades over the years.
Some of its noteworthy work includes the futuristic camper concept of North Face, David Letterman's livery for the new hybrid BMW race car, and business class cabins for EVA Air.
The new design studio meant to house its 65 employees was opened on Monday. It's a downshift in footage from 70,000 square feet to 16,000 square feet. According to BMW Group's design director, Adrian Van Hooydonk, the shift is a response to current work-life balance demands.
He told Bloomberg that the group didn't want to subject its employees to LA's notorious 101 highway, especially after coming out of Covid's 'work from home' period that has lasted roughly three years.
The new space's minimalistic nature is characterized by Scandinavian-style furniture that features warm wood, chocolate browns, and orange tones. The typical hybrid office has small booths, group tables, and individual workstations.
A notable omission in the design studio is clay model staging – traditionally used in automotive design. According to Van Hooydonk, such large spaces aren't necessary today since most design work has shifted from physical to digital spaces in computers.
"The space is still just large enough to put a car model in and to look at that if you want to do a check. But the ways of working that we have now are far more connected with Munich. Far more digital. We felt that the footprint of the studio needed to reflect that," he added.
BMW opens new Designworks studio in California https://t.co/LvEQcLbvbh pic.twitter.com/qWgg8FTgbL
— Automotive News (@Automotive_News) November 7, 2022
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