Design Architect:

IA Interior Architects

Associate Architect or Firm:

Landscape Architect:

Owner / Developer:

LBA Realty

Project Data:

Completion Date:     7/1/2019

Square Footage:      150000

Building Use:           Workspace, Workshop

Project Description:

Anduril Industries, Inc. is a rapidly growing technology product company with the ambitious goal of pushing boundaries in the defense/aerospace industry. When looking for a new headquarters, they thought big and took an entire building – 150,000 square feet in a former garment factory. The goal for the new space was to embody their innovative "maker" spirit. During the visioning process, they described their ideal employee as “a world-class engineer with a machine shop in the garage.” When the project began, they had 30 employees. At the time of the first phase move-in they had grown to over 100 with the intent to expand to 800.

Most of the square footage exists on one large ground floor, where drone products are assembled and tested. Ample ceiling height and generous floor-to-ceiling windows create a bright, spacious workshop for test flights and quick, on-site part replacement. The mezzanine hosts work space, a self-serve kitchen, and research/development labs.

The goal was to celebrate and expose how things are made, highlighting their use of raw materials. The experience includes a journey along the expanse of the building with landmarks and high-contrast playful colors, creating energy and momentum, the antithesis of the company’s more corporate competition.

The culture is laid-back, but the work is serious; the space had to reflect that duality. Workstation areas are unique because many of the employees make things at their desks, so the design of the workstations incorporates standing-height butcher blocks and large tool chests. Library spaces in each neighborhood provide quiet spots to make, use, and display their creations.

Bright yellow graphics painted on concrete wind down the central boulevard, navigate foot traffic from one end of the building to the other, and lead to neighborhoods along the way. Icons within the graphic are inspired by electrical circuitry and were a collaboration between the design team and the client’s workshop team. The graphic ends at the top of a new stair, connecting the workshop floor and the mezzanine pantry that overlooks it.

The main challenges of the project included the industrial building itself, which presented the design team with odd built conditions, including irregular column bays, and exposed roof insulation. The solution the design team came to was to paint out ceiling conditions to create an overall textural feeling without highlighting individual elements. They also mimicked the small columns with power poles to efficiently bring power and reinforce the language of the building’s structure.

The client was very involved in the design process from the beginning so the design team planned a series of working sessions to get to the heart of the client’s requests for their workshop and warehouse.

The design team was able to take a bare, expansive warehouse, lacking formal structure, and design a creative workspace that provided ample room for Anduril employees to develop advanced technology systems in collaborative, inspiring space, while creating a community of maker-minded engineers.