The Bradbury Building, with its crisscrossing walkways, marble stairs and ornate ironwork is a beautiful 5 storey office building in downtown Los Angeles; it is also the oldest commercial building in LA. Commissioned in 1893 by gold-mining and real estate millionaire Lewis L. Bradbury, it was built by draftsman George Wyman from the original design by Sumner Hunt. It was acquired by NeueHouse co-working space company, founded in 2011, who are a cultural hub for “creators, innovators and thought leaders”. They commissioned DesignAgency, a Canadian design studio to turn 25,000 square feet into creative spaces for work and relaxation, with added work-enhancing extras such as a gallery space, lobby café, conference space, private offices and a meditation nap room. 

The colour palette is a beautiful mix of masculine and feminine, with dark blues, dark greens and blacks, punctuated with orange, red, yellow and creams. There is also a gorgeous mix of textures, from funky ceramic tiling and parquet flooring to brass, leather and cotton. You can see that the surfaces are meant to be hard-wearing and durable but not with a compromise to style an warmth. Where leather may be cold to the touch, they’ve used warm tans and reds and hard wooden surfaces are in soft oak and rich walnut. We also love the way they have mirrored the ornate black ironwork, with black metal lighting fittings and painting the industrial pipework black. And all topped-off with a generous use of brass to create a warm, sparkling, luxury environment. Despite being an office workspace, there is still much inspiration we can take from this to apply to our homes. And, as an office workspace, this is a perfect example of creating a warm creative space that anyone would love to work in.