WeWork locations tend to have similar design notes across the board. Brass finishes, matte colors, wood finishes, and fiddle leaf fig trees are likely to be spotted at branches across the country.
Under the creative leadership of Adam Kimmel, the former fashion designer who was tapped to be the chief creative officer of the We Company last September, that’s changing with the co-working brand’s latest location in Mill Valley, California. WeWork Mill Valley, located at 1 Belvedere Drive, will featured a highly localized design that responds more directly to its surroundings than previous WeWorks have.
“It’s been amazing what we were able to do there, creating a Big Sur or Sea Ranch vibe,” says Kimmel. “We gave it a nuanced treatment of materiality, wood panel walls, wood joists in the ceiling. Giving [the interiors] those touches gives it a local vibe.”
The office space also includes plenty of design-forward finishes. A dining area offers seating for 10 in Thonet's Vienna chairs, set on a rug from Turkey. The community bar has a terrazzo countertop from Concrete Collaborative and white oak bookshelves holding a number of books and records from local favorite Amoeba Records. The den is fully soundproofed to function as a meeting space or screening room. The lounge, a nucleus for any WeWork office, features a burled wood coffee table by Milo Baughmann, a cardboard chair by Frank Gehry, MR lounge chairs by Mies van der Rohe, and Moroccan rugs from Beni Rugs.
Kimmel has plans to re-create the design concept for this outpost across the company. “As we have so many spaces opening up, we’re really branching out the localization,” says Kimmel. “Our style can jump around. We can do it so many different ways. There’s Pasadena arts and crafts, eighties Gehry, Neutra-style, Spanish Montecito style—there are so many rich styles you can draw from in everything.”
While the new location will be open to the typical startup ventures and small businesses that regularly fill WeWork halls worldwide, Mill Valley members may also be sharing cold brew around the communal sink with a notable name for the company. “This whole project was driven by Michael Gross [vice chairman of The We Company]; he’s based there. He was very involved. It has his own touches with the records and music, and he hung up some of his artwork.”
Most WeWorkers end up finding a favorite nook or chair to get their work done. While he won’t be based in Mill Valley, Kimmel did offer one particular suggestion: the branch's LC3 couch by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, and Charlotte Perriand. "Cassina is making those, and the way they’re redoing them, they’re more comfortable than ever," he says. "The actual cushioning is fantastic.”