Atlas Lantz Studio
Confidential Design Studio
Los Angeles, California
2025
The work presented here was completed during Andy Lantz’s tenure at RIOS where he led the practice as Global Creative Director & CEO. This project is a demonstration of that leadership either through the active participation in a paid commission with a client or the efforts associated with an invited or open competition.
Project Team:
Andy Lantz, Jenny Myers, Dami Olufowoshe, Nate Waddell, Michael Hua, Mac MacVaugh, and Melissa Miller
The project called for the comprehensive reimagining of an existing design campus to better support the realities of twenty-first century creative work. The central challenge was to dismantle the traditional separation between design and fabrication—both spatially and culturally—and create an environment where making and imagining operate as a continuous process.
The design needed to expand capacity, improve workflow connectivity, and introduce new spaces that support the full lifecycle of design, from concept and prototyping to presentation and recruitment. Equally important was the creation of a workplace environment that fosters collaboration, flexibility, and a strong connection between interior and exterior spaces.
The project sought to establish a new model for creative production environments—one defined by openness, visibility, and shared process.
The design transforms the campus into an integrated landscape of thinking and making, guided by the concept of opposites united—precision and intuition, craft and concept, fabrication and design.
At its core, the project dissolves the historic divide between design and fabrication by bringing these programs into direct spatial relationship. This connection allows designers to remain continuously engaged with the act of making, turning the process into a visible and shared catalyst for innovation.
A new mezzanine level expands capacity while strengthening visual and physical connections across the studio, and interior spaces extend outward to programmed exterior environments that support informal collaboration and exchange. The program introduces expanded fabrication facilities, global presentation environments, an archive gallery, a traveler’s lounge and flexible work areas, and a seamless recruitment experience that communicates the organization’s creative identity from arrival.
Together, these interventions establish a future-ready workplace—one that supports evolving design practices while reinforcing a culture of experimentation, collaboration, and innovation.
“The project dissolves the boundary between thinking and making—transforming process into a visible engine of innovation.”
A global automotive manufacturer commissioned the transformation of its North American design center to support the future of mobility and evolving models of creative production. Located on a 165,000-square-foot campus in Los Angeles, California, the facility serves as a hub for advanced automotive design, engineering, and research, where concept development and fabrication converge to shape future products and brand identity.
The client sought to reposition its design workplace to reflect a contemporary creative culture—one that fosters collaboration, accelerates innovation, and reinforces the relationship between design thinking and material production.
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