Car Talk: Inside A SoCal Studio For Genesis Design

In almost five decades of practice, Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects (EYRC Architects)—founded as Steven Ehrlich Architects and located in Culver City, California—has ticked off the boxes spanning the project spectrum. Residences and commercial work pepper the portfolio in roughly equal proportions. Yet, even now, the firm has discovered a new road to explore. Call it car culture. Call it particularly suited to the architects’ environs. Case in point is their recent transformation of an 80,000-square-foot, ‘60’s-era industrial warehouse for Genesis Design California. For Patricia Rhee, partner and project lead, it’s also a point of pride. Her first collaboration with a Korean company, in homage to her heritage.

The El Segundo site, just five miles from LAX, came asset rich. Capped with retractable skylights, it unfolds around an atrium that, although covered, is naturally ventilated and reads as the coveted indoor-outdoor connection. EYRC Architects also inherited plenty of glazing and openings, a front façade detailed with Douglas Fir slats, and exposed glue-laminate structural elements inside. “Our job was to refresh the shell and core as an adaptive re-use project. It’s based on our approach of selective subtraction not necessarily adding,” says Rhee of the LEED Gold solution. “Interiors were key.”

EYRC Architects Drives Genesis Design To A New Era

Created chiefly for designers—car designers, that is, with international provenance—the studio is a workplace. However, it’s one with specialized automotive needs. Thus, Rhee continues, “the ground-floor plan is organized as three bars.” One-third of the footprint is designated as shop and model space, its double-story volume accommodating specific dimensions including the height needed for milling arms. The middle bar is outdoor space allowing the cars to be seen in daylight as rotating on two turntables embedded within the courtyard’s concrete pavers. The rest is designated as open-office work area with easy access to “outdoor” decks spilling over to an expansive lounge-library-kitchen zone suggesting homey and hospitality vibes, all but prerequisite tropes in today’s hybrid workplaces.

To this end, Rhee and her team designed copious, white oak-veneer casework to incorporate shelving-display components and seating nooks as work and impromptu meeting options. The kitchen is mapped out by a pair of cremo delicato marble islands and canopy-capped cabinetry facing a custom oak dining table surrounded by FYRN chairs. As for the lounge, it too is for the staff, not for show. Anchored by a Maharam rug, Wendelbo’s super-chic white sofa in a Kvadrat wool blend along with its leather armchairs beckon Genesis folks to linger, chat, and collaborate. Guests, meanwhile, are strictly on invitational basis.

From An Industrial Warehouse To A LEED Gold Workplace

For the second level, EYRC Architects razed parts of the existing mezzanine, inserting a new catwalk and stair in the shop and a new stair in the atrium. Private executive offices occupy the floor as does an outdoor patio conceived for events and entertaining. Biophilia abounds: trees, pops of gardens, and a perimeter planting system floating above and cascading down to the work zone. Speaking of which, Rhee notes that despite the “proprietary work happening in the space, the studio avoids the overly enclosed character common to technical workspaces.” Instead, there’s freedom of choice within differing spaces for different personalities. Cue neurodiversity. The big takeaway she adds, “is an elevated experience for the client not only in how they design but their coming to work on a daily basis.” She’s proud, too, of its unmistakable sense of SoCal place. Eminent EYRC Architects car endeavors down the road? Work at the historic Willow Springs Raceway, recognizable to fans of Ford v Ferrari.

Inside EYRC Architects’s Specialized Studio For Genesis Design California