CarbonShack Design Pays Homage to West Coast Shingle Style in Their New LA Space

Sustainably sourced and locally crafted were the parameters CarbonShack Design followed while doing their own office/showroom redesign in Los Angeles, California. 

CarbonShack, a sustainably-focused residential design and interior products firm, recently redesigned their own offices to highlight the firms’ commitment to sustainability and contemporary design deeply rooted in the diverse historicity of the surrounding Los Angeles architectural cityscape.   The commercial building, situated within a historic neighborhood of modest single-family bungalows, had most recently housed a juice bar, party rental store and auto repair shop.  The first phase of the improvement project centered around creating an office space with several distinct areas (reception, conference, kitchen, and storage), as well as spaces for the architecture, interior design, project management and administration departments.  

In an effort to minimize waste and to maximize adaptive re-use of the building, the basic shell was kept intact – with the important exception of an added skylight turret at the office’s main central conference room/layout space. This allows profuse natural light to flood the interior, while also accentuating the nearly 12-foot ceiling height. In addition, the existing concrete floor pad, which was in very good condition, was filled where needed (in locations where trenching for plumbing lines was required), and refreshed with a durable polishing. Wall and ceiling surfaces throughout are finished in hand-troweled natural plaster, with integral color-pigmented plaster accent wall in strategic locations.

But the main attraction here is easily the street-facing, curvaceous, wood-clad pod structures set at the main entry’s storefront.  These asymmetrical organic forms, which CarbonShack’s in-house artisans painstakingly sheathed in reclaimed redwood shingles, reference a uniquely American architectural form – the West Coast Shingle Style that was popular in the early part of the 20th century.  Shingle Style, as practiced on the West Coast, was more influenced by European currents such as Art Nouveau and Gaudi, than the East Coast variants.  CarbonShack designers were inspired by the asymmetrical and organic lines of the movement to reimagine the office cubicle, shaped around the functional needs of front office staff.  

These unique structures are both private and public-facing at the same time, visible from the street and sidewalk by passers-by, yet configured in a way that provides privacy to the staff members who occupy them.  On the right-hand unit, the curved wood wall cap dips downward as it moves toward the office’s interior, allowing eventually for the occupier – the company’s administrative assistant – to be visible to guests. The opposite structure houses the workspace of the business manager, a less public-facing position, and thus its walls maintain their privacy-ensuring height.  

A cantilevered shingle-sheathed shelf emerges out from an interior corner to become a display plinth for an art installation of rainbow-hued vintage books. Salvaged old-growth Douglas fir lumber was milled and rebirthed as a conference room and kitchen cabinets, topped with green marble slabs that were salvaged from the deconstructed kitchen that the firm was remodeling for a client.  Set against a backdrop of the hand-troweled natural white plaster, the deep, rich tones and organic forms of these reclaimed wood and stone elements bring warmth to the workspace, and keep us connected to the natural world.  

The second phase of the office build-out included transforming the adjacent space into a showroom for the company’s line of home furnishing products (including sustainably sourced and locally crafted furniture, fabrics, tile and lighting), as well as a renovated bathroom clad entirely in bespoke glazed ceramic tiles that feature CarbonShack’s “mycelium” motif.

Project Planning

CarbonShack’s corporate mantra is sustainability.  All materials, sourcing, design and production stems from that focus. CarbonShack views design as intent and it is only through working with their in-house team of craftspeople, artisans and tradespeople that this intent becomes a reality.  Rich watercooler conversations such as the one that happened between the Environmental Analyst, Charlie, and the head of their plaster and stucco department, Alfonso, led to the revival of an old plaster technique that mixes cut grass/straw with plaster.  It was a technique Alfonso learned from his grandfather in Mexico, but when he related this to Charlie, Charlie pointed out excitedly how this was in fact carbon sequestration.  Taking agricultural waste and reusing it as building material also reduces the amount of industrial produced plaster thus reducing the carbon footprint of the application.  This type of vertical integration is what is exciting about their company’s structure, constant interaction between the idea, the intent, and the mode of execution.  CarbonShack eschews the notion of c-suite authority and instead encourages design to percolate from the craftsperson or designer in order to discover new and exciting solutions. 

Project Details

CarbonShack prioritizes the health and well being of their employees, their clients and the planet.  When they create a healthy workspace or home they reduce harms to the environment and create a healthy planet.  The choices people make in where we live and work affect the natural world and our health.  To that end CarbonShack eliminates the use of paint on walls and ceilings by using natural plaster and other natural finishes, eliminating harmful VOC’s and creating a superior wall and ceiling finish.  All the wood used in cabinetry or furnishings is reclaimed, no new trees are harvested.  Natural light is an important aspect of health, wellbeing and also reducing energy use through lighting.  As the existing space was three long commercial units with dark interiors, they installed a large turret at the center to allow natural light to flood the otherwise dark interior.  The turret also works as a design feature, aggrandizing an otherwise generic space by adding volume and spirit to the setting.

The CarbonShack Story

CarbonShack began as Home Front Build, a sister company that specializes in the historic vernacular styles found in Los Angeles.  In order to facilitate building techniques that were no longer used or otherwise lost, Home Front Build built a team of in-house craftspeople that specialized in lost building arts.  This prioritization of the craft was also accompanied by a need to train others in the crafts. 

We believe that homeowners want an interior, a living or working space that feels handmade, that has humanity, the touch of the human hand, not a sterile, low cost generic interior. 

Reuse was also critical to match historic projects; but that ethos transfers seamlessly to CarbonShack as the reuse of materials lowers the embodied carbon footprint of a project.  We strive to create authentic projects that prioritize craftsmanship and reuse, and with CarbonShack, we emphasize how handmade becomes infused with natural materials. This is also reflected in our approach to our office space, both to exhibit as a model for clients visiting us, and for our entire team to enjoy and live our ethos.

Products 

Dishwasher, refrigerator drawers – Snyder Diamond

Plumbing fixtures – Georges Plumbing

Custom cabinetry and woodwork – CarbonShack

Salvaged lumber – Pacific Redwood

Decorative tile (bathroom) – CarbonShack

Backsplash tile  (kitchenette) – Mission Tile West

Plaster work – Home Front Build

Glass storefront and doors – R&C Glass

Awning – Van Nuys Awning

Electrical – JMC Electric

Lighting fixtures – Light 

Insulation – OJ Insulation

Overall Project Results

Prior to occupying the current office space, the Home Front Build team (pre-CarbonShack) worked from various less-than-ideal locations.  The architecture team shared a cramped, corporate-y office space in downtown Los Angeles, while the design and administrative teams worked out of the business owner’s quasi-converted garage – some in the main garage space, and some in the dusty and “cozy” attic area, amidst the exposed rafters and web-spinners.  Bringing the full team together into one thoughtfully, intentionally-crafted space allowed not only for better communication and morale, but it fostered efficiencies and productivity, inspired creative processes, and lead ultimately to a strengthening of the firm’s work and spirit.

The physical challenge of the space:  Opening up a commercial space that previously prioritized storage and security, think dry cleaner and auto parts, and therefore needed no windows or any concern for life, was the challenge.  The building is up against adjoining commercial buildings, so adding windows at the sides was not a possibility. So they grew a turret in the center of the building, employing an ancient atrium strategy, and flooded the previously dark interior of the building with light – which is so important to the team and to our ethos of wellness and sustainability.  This central area now houses a meeting table and kitchen and has transformed into a critical meeting point, really the social center of the building…adding to our connectivity.  Finally, critically framing the entry area with the innovative office pods sets the creative tone of design innovation to anyone who enters, as well as for the team. 

Design Team

The craftspeople are often overlooked in any successful design.  Too often in the history of design we focus on the lead designer, say Frank Lloyd Wright, and not the team of master craftspeople he worked with.  So much of design is not the higher level inspiration but the micro level, moment-to-moment decisions the craftsperson makes.  At CarbonShack they celebrate their partnership with craftspeople as well as their partnership with the natural world.  

Steve Pallrand – Lead Designer 

Derek Ryder – Architect 

Goli Karimi – Interior Design 

Greg Roth – Interior Design 

Alfonso Garcia – Lead Construction 

Photography

NOLASCO STUDIOS