Inside PUMA Studio LA: A Contemporary Atelier by West of West

Summary

• West of West designed the new PUMA Studio Los Angeles as a flexible, culture-focused atelier
• It houses STUDIO48 with advanced prototyping tools, promoting creative overlap and collaboration
• A sculptural wooden stair links the social and design floors

West of West’s design for the new PUMA Studio Los Angeles establishes the space as both a creative hub and a cultural platform, complementing the brand’s existing studios in Massachusetts and Germany.

Conceived as a contemporary atelier, the studio integrates showrooms, workspaces, libraries, and a prototyping lab within a flexible framework that also accommodates hospitality, entertainment, and events. This approach positions the workplace not only as a site of production but also as an engine of culture, where unfinished ideas, raw materials and final products coexist to foster experimentation and innovation.

At the heart of the studio lies STUDIO48, a dedicated design workshop that mirrors PUMA’s facilities in Herzogenaurach and Boston. The space is equipped with a comprehensive footwear and apparel material library, large- and small-scale printing capabilities, sewing machines, and moveable pin-up walls and backdrops. An isolated, humidity-controlled room houses advanced tools such as 3D printers, a DTG printer, a laser cutter, and a spray room with specialized ventilation. These resources enable designers, marketers, and cultural collaborators to work side by side, blurring the boundaries between concept and execution. The emphasis is not solely on efficiency but on the creative energy that emerges from collaboration and overlap.
The showroom complements this spirit as a luminous gallery with polished concrete floors and mirrored panels, designed to adapt seamlessly from private styling sessions to larger events. Distinct program areas are defined through a warm, minimal palette of wood, translucent glass, curtains, stained surfaces, and matte aluminum, with custom textures and transparencies introducing variation.

At the center of the studio, a sculptural stair serves as the defining connective element. Conceived as a ribbon of fabric unfurling through the building, the wooden stair winds upward with fluid motion, linking the social, event-oriented floor with the internally focused design floor above. By ensuring circulation also encourages interaction and frames views across levels, the stair embodies the studio’s ethos of openness and exchange. This flexibility allows PUMA Studio to operate in multiple modes – an office, a gathering spot, a runway, or a workshop – making it an architecture of possibility deeply engaged with the creative life of Los Angeles.

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