L.A. Coworking Complex's 'Garden Pods' are Pandemic-Resilient

One of the funkiest office development projects to come online over the past year is poised to grow as the pandemic-related restrictions in Los Angeles relax. The new Second Home coworking space in East Hollywood, which reimagined a 1964 design by architect Paul Williams, is a one-of-a-kind office complex.

This expansive 90,000-square-foot coworking campus features a central building and 60 self-standing garden pods that are completely surrounded by green space. The repurposing of the historic main building that was designed by Williams, one of the first prominent African-American architects working in Los Angeles and the first African American inducted into the American Institute of Architects, brings a 1960s flair to the modern complex.

The renovated main building, which showcases a style best characterized as “classical neocolonialism," includes 320 roaming places on the ground floor and an additional 200 workspaces on a second level. Common areas include a café, bar, restaurant, conference hall, meeting areas, and open terraces.

The rest of the complex, built above an underground parking garage, consists of 60 oval-shaped bungalows that are interconnected. Individual offices and meeting rooms are surrounded by a rich garden built with four feet of soil on top of the parking slab. The bungalows are partially below grade, which helps immerse them into the landscape.

The transparent curved walls of each pod allow 360-degree views of the plants, and each space is connected with the natural surroundings.

Because each of the pods is free-standing, they enable workers to share space without being exposed to dozens of other people. “While traditional offices recirculate air, each Second Home pod pumps filtered fresh air from outside to flush out airborne contaminants," says Chris Go, the company's membership manager.

Second Home is actually tailor-made for the pandemic landscape. “Architecture and property management have never been more important to our health," adds Go. “In light of what the world is going through, Second Home is the healthy working environment we need to help get people back to work safely."

Moreover, Second Home is focused on supporting entrepreneurship and creativity. That focus starts with taking an active role in creating a healthy workspace that inspires creativity and enables businesses to work safely and productively.

One-of-a-Kind Design

Designed by Spanish architecture firm SelgasCano, Second Home's design is at the forefront of a movement in which evolutionary psychology and biophilia—an innate love of nature—are reflected in architecture. The project preserved a historic building and made it the anchor for an innovative new development in a park-like setting.

Second Home's L.A. campus is the company's first in the U.S., following four locations in London and one in Lisbon. “With all our other sites, we worked incredibly hard to bring nature into buildings," says Go. "But with L.A.'s outrageously good weather, it's the reverse: we're immersing the buildings in nature. We planted 6,500 trees and plants at Second Home Hollywood, making it L.A.'s densest new urban forest."

What's more, Second Home touts its Hollywood campus as “a mix of beautiful workspaces created for individuals and teams."

Operating in the New Normal

Second Home Hollywood can accommodate up to 1,500 members at a time on its coworking campus. Before the pandemic hit, all of the studios in its historic Paul Williams building, and all of its small studios site-wide, were sold out. The company was also working to bring in some larger tenants to help anchor the campus.

COVID-19 forced the entire complex to close in mid-March of 2020. Since then, Second Home has re-doubled its online efforts. It has continued to provide digital programming for its entire global community. Online offerings have ranged from yoga and exercise classes to a book club and business lectures. They have also held online jam sessions and virtual cocktail parties.

While states and companies are still navigating the new normal as lock-down restrictions loosen, Second Home is safely welcoming back members in accordance with local government regulations.

“Our garden pod private offices are specially-suited for our new world, as each pod is its own self-standing building; completely separate from other offices and surrounded on all sides by a wall of greenery, vegetation, and natural light." says Go. “As opposed to the recirculated air in office buildings, our pods each have their own fresh clean air supply pumped in directly from outside, which flushes out airborne contaminants, removing the chance for viral/bacterial particulates to pass from one office to the next."

There are different size pods on the Second City campus, with room to house between nine and 22 people. Go says: “They are the perfect blend of privacy, health safety, and a truly inspiring workspace connected to nature."