Event

SOM Group Tours Pen Factory in Santa Monica

A group from SOM’s Los Angeles office recently toured the new Santa Monica, California headquarters of Awesomeness, a global multi-platform media company that develops original programming for mobile, streaming services, websites, and broadcast networks. SOM provided architecture and interior design services for the company’s 78,000-square-foot, two-level space. The headquarters, which occupies the entire east building of the larger Pen Factory, will house approximately 600 employees.

SOM Senior Designer Carlos Madrid III and SOM Associate Goldy Lee, along with Awesomeness representatives, walked the group through the interior scheme, which blends the open, industrial character of the building—a former Paper Mate pen factory that dates to 1956—with the youthful, tech-savvy culture of Awesomeness. The design includes a vibrant graphics and branding program, a variety of creative work spaces, stadium seating, a screening room, and multiple areas for employees to work, socialize, and relax.

Awesomeness is the first company to move into Pen Factory since the completion of the adaptive reuse project to transform the former manufacturing facility into a sustainable, multi-tenant creative workplace. The development, which covers 222,000 square feet of office space in two buildings, references the buildings’ industrial past while providing open, casual, and flexible work environments for contemporary innovative companies.