KX Lab
Client
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KX Lab
Area
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Chinatown, Los Angeles
Status
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Complete
Type
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Office, Retail
Set within an industrial Los Angeles neighborhood, KX Lab shrouds its unconventional tech-filled design within a typical warehouse exterior and sets out to change the way manufacturing is carried out in Los Angeles. The design focus supports a social mission where technology and people interconnect.
The facility seamlessly merges a knit manufacturing space with workspace, research and development, retail environment, and exhibition space. KX Lab sees its new home as a prototype for “radically more humane” manufacturing environments focused on sustainability and transparency. As a local manufacturer, KX Lab aims to bring consumers, products, and the people that make them closer together.
Design
Human-centered design was the goal throughout the space. Not only is the space filled with light and fresh air, it buzzes with automation, high-tech knitting machines, and zooming robots. The company’s vision to provide a healthy work environment is evident throughout the facility and in particular in the expansive garden completely visible and accessible from the manufacturing floor.
Collaboration
The garden, formerly a concrete parking lot, now bursts with life and offers connections to nature whether viewed from the factory, seated by the pond or amongst the drought-tolerant trees. The Omgivning team designed the KX Lab space based on a concept from Studio 173.
Omgivning worked closely with TERREMOTO Landscape Architects to help achieve the goals of creating a wild garden in an area in need of green space. This human environment of steel, concrete, and machinery shares a space with a natural, native plant palette, creating a place to unwind and recharge.
Photography by Stephen Schauer and Benjamin Mears
