On July 25, Baukunst opened the doors to its first physical studio in Bernal Heights, San Francisco. The new space will serve as the fund’s inaugural office and a hub for the Baukunst Collective, built to foster collective collaborations and host discussions around the art of building.
To celebrate the studio opening, Baukunst hosted a block party-style event for the entire neighborhood. In an opening speech, GP Kate McAndrew shared, “We hope this studio will have a permeable membrane with the community. We hope as the collective gathers and hosts people in the space, neighbors will join in and vice versa.”
Designed with collaboration and engagement at its core, the studio welcomes not just collective members but also community members and neighbors interested in discussions around all things building. The studio is a step in the Baukunst mission to continue the conversation with like-minded individuals on the evolution of design and technology. "Technology alone can sometimes set us on a path toward a dystopian future we don’t even necessarily want to be part of," Mincey stated at the studio opening party. "Design helps solve for that. At Baukunst, we're investing in and building companies we can be proud of."
For collective members, the studio offers a defined space to work on projects alongside fellow members and collaborators. The 2000 square foot office features a private meeting space and a communal lobby, which will be open and available to all official members for design reviews, team offsites, as well as board meetings. The space is built around common tables that transform from a drop-in work space by day to studio dinner tables at night, allowing for modularity and accomodation of events ranging from happy hours during the week to community yoga on the weekend. "The space is an intentionally flexible container, and we hope the collective and community will take ownership and drive its evolution purposefully," McAndrew says. Exciting additional amenities for collective members are in the works and set to be announced in the coming months.
For community members, there are two exciting opportunities for engagement within the space. First is the McLuhan Reading Room, available by appointment. The Reading Room is a permanent installation created in partnership with the McLuhan Institute, a living archive honoring the works of media theorists Marshall and Eric McLuhan, started by Marshall’s grandson, fellow theorist Andrew McLuhan.
The McLuhan Reading Room is a satellite McLuhan Institute and a library of key texts for creative technologists. Included in the Reading Room is a red landline phone connecting directly to Andrew McLuhan in Ontario, Canada, for discussions on media theory. “This is an inexpressibly profound step for me in my journey to bring my family’s work in ‘understanding media’ to the people who need it most,” McLuhan noted in a recent LinkedIn post. “[It’s] for those who are shaping today’s technologies which will reshape us and our world tomorrow.”
Secondly, Baukunst Studio will be a hub for eclectic programming, open for entry to collective and community members. The team aims to host regular lectures, screenings and networking events around all things building, open to our curious community of founders, doers, and enthusiastic neighbors. Priority goes to programming that advances our understanding of where design and technology intersect.
Thank you to everyone in our inspiring community who attended our opening celebration. We can’t wait to welcome everyone for more dynamic programming soon.
Host an event
Have an event idea for our space? Email us at hello@baukunst.co to tell us more—we’d love to hear from you.
