Shaping the future of mobility – Designworks opens its new studio in Santa Monica, Los Angeles

Last year in November during our trip to Los Angeles we already paid Designworks a visit in their new studio in Santa Monica and got a little sneak peek of what’s coming up. Now we have been back for the official opening of the new venue, located in the center of "Silicon Beach," Southern California's cutting-edge hub for media, technology, and design, and next to one of the most significant mobility hubs in the world. Being surrounded by an inspiring environment and to strengthen the exchange with customers and cooperation partners have been among the reasons for relocating.

Designworks is the BMW Group’s innovation studio operating worldwide with studios in Los Angeles, Shanghai and Munich. By working with clients from a wide range of industries, including consumer electronics, charging infrastructure, and interior spaces, Designworks inspires the BMW Group with external perspectives and creative impulses. As both a design studio and creative think tank, Designworks identifies global trends and provides inspiration in the fields of innovation, design, and sustainability. 

New Designworks studio in Santa Monica 

Designworks LA is preparing for its future with the new location. For the last half-century, Designworks’ services and business have advanced greatly: from crafting traditional clay models for car design to develop comprehensive mobility solutions for complete city ecosystems.

“Santa Monica is a test bed for the innovative and sustainable mobility solutions of tomorrow. Designworks will generate valuable impetus, inspiration, and new ideas for the design of the BMW Group brands right here.” – Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President, BMW Group Design and a former Head of Designworks

The new studio is the largest of the three covering an area of 16.500 square feet and is equipped to handle the transition from physical to digital design and development. The new studio in Santa Monica is designed for the “New Work” model – the future of work, offering its employees hybrid working and a perfect digital work flow – also with the other two studios in Munich and Shanghai. With more than 65 of employees, only have of them would find at the same time a physical working place in the studio. So this shows that a hybrid working model is lived.

“Our new studio allows us to fully exploit the freedoms digitalization gives us. Personal interaction remains a focal point, but we do work differently in Santa Monica: In this new workspace, our processes are geared towards virtual communication, and we are able to bring the results of our work to life for clients in an entirely new way.” – Holger Hampf, Head of Designworks

The opening of the new studio was perfectly chosen as it took part during the international art fair Frieze Los Angeles, which the BMW Group has supported as a partner for years. And for Designworks the combination of art and design has always played a major role. 
The powerful connection between art and design was demonstrated when BMW presented the Vision M NEXT in 2019. Ahead of the unveiling, artist Thomas Demand reconstructed key pieces of the car with paper and photographed them without giving away the complete design. These images became the first public displays of the vehicle. 

In the studio in Santa Monica, we not only got to see Demand’s photographs, we also had the chance to have a closer look at the BMW Vision M Next. Besides we experienced some other projects Designworks has been working on for BMW such as two cutting-edge seat designs that blend sustainability with futurism. Designworks is teaming up with start-ups to explore entirely new manufacturing processes and eco-friendly, recyclable materials, including bacteria-based plastic and cruelty-free textiles that still provide a luxurious look and feel as well as sturdiness. 

In addition, we got to see the BMW M Hybrid V8 race car that made its debut at the 24 Hours of Daytona and has been been designed by Designworks. Its design combines traditional details with the technology required for efficient performance on the racetrack. The paintwork recalls the colours of classic race cars and brings elements of five decades of motorsports history into the present day. 

Another project Designworks has been recently working on was an app to go along with the unveiling of the BMW i Vision Dee at CES 2023, a concept car featuring color-changing EInk technology. The app allows people to create a “digital replica” of the vehicle in any colour or pattern with their phone and project it virtually onto any background. 

As during these days everything was revolved around the theme of design, we of course wanted to know from Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President of BMW Group Design what we can anticipate in the near future from BMW Design, particularly with the launch of the Neue Klasse in 2025. The design is going to be cleaner and more reduced, where the interior becomes more cosy and individual. We can’t wait to see the Neue Klasse and as soon as we have more information, we will of course share them with you.

Pictures: BMW / Enes Kucevic for ellectric