SNAP Campus Amenity Park
Location: Santa Monica, CA Size: 660 SF Status: Complete Program: Outdoor Workplace Amenity Client: SNAP Inc,.
chevron_leftA Better Use of Space
As workplace culture evolves, so should the spaces that support it. By replacing a surface parking lot with a flexible outdoor campus park, the project creates a new social heart for SNAP’s Santa Monica headquarters. Climate-responsive shade, thoughtful fabrication, and expressive architectural elements transform an overlooked site into a year-round destination. The park supports gathering, collaboration, and community.
Two defining architectural gestures anchor the design. A sculptural family of shade canopies creates comfort through architecture rather than landscape. An amenity space wrapped in a custom textured skin elevates everyday infrastructure into a campus landmark.
The Architecture of Shade
More than a source of shade, the sculptural canopies redefine the role of outdoor infrastructure on the corporate campus. At once environmental infrastructure, social catalyst, and architectural landmark, they transform a former parking lot into a comfortable, year-round destination for gathering, collaboration, and community. However, in Southern California, planting large shade trees is often constrained by water scarcity, irrigation demands, and long-term maintenance. The project turns these environmental constraints into opportunities for architectural invention.
As a result, SNAP Park expands the workplace beyond the office interior, supporting informal meetings, outdoor work, campus events, and everyday interaction. Precisely calibrated perforations filter sunlight into shifting patterns of light and shadow. Natural ventilation also helps the spaces remain comfortable throughout the day.
From Pattern to Performance
The canopy geometry evolved through an iterative design process. The team balanced environmental performance, structural efficiency, and fabrication. Multiple configurations helped optimize shade coverage, feasibility, and visual expression. Carefully calibrated perforations admit filtered daylight while maintaining comfort below.
The resulting petal-like forms radiate from a central bundle of steel tubes. This approach breaks down the scale of the canopy and creates a lighter, more articulated composition. By subdividing the structure into discrete components, the design softens its visual mass while simplifying fabrication, transportation, and on-site assembly. Construction logic becomes embedded in the architecture itself.
LO-FI. HI-FI.
For both the canopy and façade systems, iterative making became an essential design tool. Physical models and 3D-printed prototypes did more than represent finished ideas. They helped the team test geometry, assembly, and material behavior before construction began.
Meanwhile, close collaboration with fabricators and material specialists blurred the line between design and construction. The head fabricator developed hand-drawn details to resolve the canopy geometry. At the same time, digital modeling and hands-on craftsmanship informed one another throughout the process. As a result, this hybrid lo-fi/hi-fi workflow produced solutions that neither process could have achieved independently.
More Than a Façade
Infrastructure is rarely asked to inspire. Here, the amenity building becomes an opportunity for architectural expression through a carefully developed façade system. Combining digital workflows with hands-on fabrication, the custom mesh and mica plaster skin create a surface that reflects changing daylight and gives the building a memorable civic presence far beyond its everyday function.
Brand as Architecture
Central to the project is an amenity building whose expressive façade draws inspiration from SNAP’s Ghostface “Chillah” logo. Rather than relying on applied graphics or signage, the architecture expresses the project’s identity through its form and materiality. Through iterative digital modeling, fabrication studies, and a custom plaster skin over a variable-depth mesh system, the building becomes a sculptural object that elevates everyday infrastructure into a defining feature of the campus.
Through extensive prototyping, 3D printing, and close collaboration with fabricators, the project demonstrates how iterative experimentation and craftsmanship can drive innovative architectural solutions. The result is a workplace destination that invites employees to step outside, connect with one another, and experience the campus in a new way.
