Flexibile Design
Yoga With Adriene and FWFG stretch into new Austin space with smart modular design elements
Millions of people are familiar with Adriene Mishler’s double windows, her backdrop for Yoga With Adriene. But there’s another important space in Mishler’s business foreground: A new East Austin office bespoke for the egalitarian yoga guru to film and run Find What Feels Good (FWFG), her yoga and meditation subscription platform.
One of the most popular yoga teachers on the internet (so, one of the most popular yoga teachers, period), Mishler is known for getting casual yogis committed at home even if they’ve never taken a class before. Around town, she may also be known as the owner of Practice Yoga Austin, a more traditional space with fun twists on Sundays like a Motown playlist or cold brew sips.
KKDW Studios headed the project, which was first unveiled in February, from conceptualizing the space to executing the build and even fitting it with appliances and decorations. The most important parts, to most viewers, are the sets where Mishler films her classes, against a white focal wall or some wood paneling almost like shiplap.
The entire space bathes in natural light thanks to a multitude of windows that leave most walls looking more like a house during framing than a place to hide away in an office. One of the considerations in creating filming spaces was to minimize the changing effects of natural light while preserving its benefits, resulting in moveable wall slats and other minimalist choices like removing air ducts from an 80-foot line-of-sight.
With all the wood details and small offices, no one would guess this space is inside a 5,000-square-foot metal building. They also may be surprised that everything is on wheels, even if it’s not primarily used for filming yoga. Plants, furniture, and the kitchen island all roll; the office walls themselves are only bolted together. The designer calls this “flexible” design, pun surely intended.
“The idea behind the entire build was to give the FWFG team a place to feel inspired, to play around and experiment, and most importantly to feel good in,” said a release from Kelly DeWitt of KKDW.
Eventually, there may be up to 20 people working in the office at a time, which also includes communal workspaces and a library. In addition to filming, events are a motivation for an easily clearable space. Either way, the value is the same: getting yogis together.
“Working with Adriene made this one of the easiest and most fulfilling projects,” said DeWitt. “There was a level of trust and love that allowed us to create exactly what we set out to do — build a warm, welcoming space that embraced the growth and innovation of Adriene and her team. I am very proud of what that collaboration achieved.”
More information about the project is available at kkdwstudios.com. Mishler's classes are available free on YouTube, on a pay-what-you-can basis at yogawithadriene.com, and by subscription through Find What Feels Good.