second home hollywood by selgascano opens in LA

second home, the co-working business for entrepreneurs and innovators, has opened its first U.S. location in los angeles. ‘second home hollywood’, also known as ‘holLA’, is described by its architect selgascano as ‘a collection of several recipes and ingredients of a california cocktail’. prior to the project, which has been photographed here by iwan baan, the site was home to two structures: a building designed in 1964 by american architect paul williams, which has been retained and reused as part of the campus; and a second building which has been demolished and replaced with a garden that contains 60 oval-shaped offices and meeting rooms.

image © iwan baan, courtesy of selgascano (also main image)

for this part of the project, selgascano designed oval-shaped offices of different sizes which are scattered around second home’s lushly vegetated garden. wrapped in transparent curved walls, the 60 rooms offer panoramic views of the surrounding plant life — immersing the offices in nature. meanwhile, the previously existing building designed by paul williams has been repurposed as the campus’ main entrance. the structure contains 320 roaming workplaces on the ground floor and 200 dedicated workspaces on the first floor. common spaces such as a café, a bar, a restaurant, an events and conference hall, break out areas, and open terraces are found throughout the building.

image © iwan baan, courtesy of selgascano

the architects say that the project’s main focus was on the outdoor environment, with the design of the interior spaces taking a back seat. ‘in second home hollywood, instead of bringing the garden inside the office, we have brought the office out to the garden,’ selgascano explains. a network of paths connects the 60 offices, with LA’s mild climate ensuring that the garden can be used year-round. it is estimated that more than 10,000 plants and trees — in addition to a diverse wildlife population — now occupy the site.

image © iwan baan, courtesy of selgascano

as those occupying the site have to co-exist with living things other than humans, selgascano describes the scheme as an experiment for the average office worker. the design team also points out that, among other benefits, the plants provides shade, thus helping to reduce the site’s temperature. meanwhile, the clear façade eliminates the need for artificial lighting, while three operable openings allow for natural cross-ventilation. furthermore, water collected on site is stored in two cisterns to be used for irrigation. ‘what previously was a parking lot is now a garden,’ says selgascano. ‘it is one of the few private developments in history in which the footprint of the built-environment has been returned to natural-environment.’ see designboom’s previous coverage of the project here.

image © iwan baan, courtesy of selgascano

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selgascano second home hollywood los angeles iwan baan designboom

project info:

location: los angeles, california
design years: 2015 – 2017
construction years: 2017 – 2019
architect: selgascano
principal(s) in charge: josé selgas, lucía cano
project team: diego cano-lasso, maría levene, inés olavarrieta, paolo tringali, sixto cordero, víctor jiménez, sara ouass, pilar cano-lasso, catalina vázquez, juan josé muñoz muñoz, julian ocampo, juan saez pedraja

lighting and furniture design: alejandro cano
client: second home

consultants —
structural engineer: walter p.moore
mechanical engineer: henderson engineers INC
interior designer: selgascano
landscape architect: selgascano / second home
civil engineer: KPFF consulting engineers

others —
general contractor: swinerton / second home USA
program: coworking offices
structural system: mixed: CLT, concrete, and steel
major materials: acrylic, glass, CLT, concrete and steel
site area: 90,854 sqf
building area: 40,340 sqf
total floor area: 67,520 sqf
cost of construction: $20 million USD