Sitting just a block from the Venice Beach Boardwalk, The Lighthouse occupies the historic Venice Post Office, a 1939 landmark built under the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression, now reborn as a new kind of communications hub; one that transmits ideas, culture, and creativity rather than just mail. Designed to blur the boundaries between workplace, hospitality, and home, the 2,090-square-metre campus is divided between a bright, open-plan ground floor and a darker, more industrial basement level, each tailored to different stages of the creative process.

Upstairs, you’ll find a sun-drenched café, open-plan workspaces, private offices, and a 72-seat theatre, interspersed with several “living rooms”, informal lounge areas inviting spontaneous encounters. Downstairs, it’s all production: podcast booths, photo studios, music suites, and a test kitchen cater to content makers of every stripe.

Custom-designed furniture and a curated mix of classic pieces from Artek, Vitra, Herman Miller, and others imbue the space with a refined yet unfussy sophistication. Lighting also plays a defining role in the overall ambiance, with spun aluminium disc pendants, designed by Warkentin Associates as playful nods to Achille Castiglioni, cast gentle pools of light that elevate the interiors without overpowering them.

Throughout the premises, references are layered with intention, never overplayed. The open library and workspace take cues from Japanese libraries, specifically Arata Isozaki’s Oita Prefectural Library, favouring fluid transitions and a sense of quiet openness over traditional segmentation. Meanwhile, the restored lobby reclaims its historic gravitas with the return of Edward Biberman’s monumental 1941 mural, Abbot Kinney and the Story of Venice, a WPA-era artwork that once again anchors the space in its civic past. The result is a space that feels rigorously composed yet effortlessly inviting where creators can effortlessly oscillate between analogue and digital environments.