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Inside WSL's Santa Monica HQ


Steps from the water in Santa Monica sits an old, 10,000 square foot warehouse. Designers at Malibu's Classical Progression, Inc. gutted it to create a HQ for the World Surf League, the global professional surf competition organizer and broadcaster, formerly located in Melbourne, Australia. There are nearly 50 full time employees in the office at Bay and Main Streets. The space also plays hosts to visiting professional surfers, many of whom show up straight from the water, and the designers worked with the company to create a space where both visitors and employees would feel comfortable working or just hanging out.
The office is located on the corner of Main Street which hosts a steady flow of public buses. There are also bike lanes along the streets and a boardwalk steps away on the Santa Monica beach. Professional surfers can easily leave the waves to walk over to the office for a meeting or interview.
Since the World Surf League encourages surfers to visit and employees to enjoy their time in the office, half of the space is dedicated to open, social areas: a gym with locker rooms, enclosed living rooms with couches and televisions, a reading area, and large café complete with a vintage bar from the 1920s. These areas create a friendly vibe where both visitors and employees can mingle and think creatively.

Collectors’ surfboards, including one used by Duke, the father of modern surfing, lean unassumingly against white gallery walls. Sliding entrance doors roll on custom-designed skateboard wheels. The floor plan of the open bullpen reflects the contours of a surfboard and above this open workspace is a school of surfboards suspended from the bow and truss ceilings. Expansive steel and glass windows welcome sunlight to naturally illuminate the space. The atmosphere feels laid back yet refined and wholeheartedly surfer chic.
The most eye-catching element is the undulating divider wall, finished with aged mahogany wine-barrel staves, that meanders throughout the office. As you follow the wave-like form, you are gently nudged into dedicated environments for filming, editing, socializing, exercising, conducting meetings, along with the essential offices for creative and business departments.

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