The Springs: An LA-Style Health Complex by Design Bitches

The Springs in LA is a crunchy adult’s playground, where terms like “enzymatic power” and “yoga DJ” get thrown around. Whether that’s your vibe or not, we think the decor of the downtown LA hotspot is worth noting. 

The Springs opened in mid-October as a natural health super center–almost 14,000 square feet of yoga studio, juice bar, raw vegan restaurant, holistic healing clinic, and supply shop. The interiors were designed by architects Catherine Johnson and Rebecca Rudolph of the sassily named firm Design, Bitches, who transformed a standard-issue 1980s cinder block warehouse into the colorful urban oasis it is today. The Springs isn’t one thing per se–the designers point out that the floor plan is “non-hierarchical” in order to let users define the space over time. All told, the transformation took about 13 months–but its identity is just beginning to unfold. 

Photography by Laure Joliet.  

Above: The juice bar is defined on one side by a wall of custom plywood cubbies; on the other, by custom concrete-block planters that were added to match the existing walls.  

Above: Skylights provide light by day; overhead LED strip lights glow by night. The existing concrete floors of the warehouse were in good condition and required only minor patching.

Above L: Custom-made cafe tables are paired with yellow Broom Chairs by Phillipe Starck for Emeco. Above R: The designers positioned Assembly Home Paperclip Desk Lamps along the juice bar. Bar stools are by Brendan Ravenhill; the legs of the cafe tables were painted to match. 

Above: Johnson and Rudolph used translucent colored plastic in yellow and red to give the juice bar a “sun-drenched” feel. The plywood cubbies were styled by owners Jared Stein and Kimberly Helms, with help from a theater-stylist friend. The trio wanted to channel personality, quirkiness, and fun. 

Above: A rope screen serves as a subtle room divider. The vegan raw restaurant is headed by chef Michael Falso of M.A.K.E. in Santa Monica. None of the food is heated over 108 degrees, and is made by juicing, blending, soaking, and dehydrating–not cooking. (Not the vegan raw type? Start with the organic beer and wine on tap.)

Above: Blue and turquoise Acapulco chairs in the lounge. The same overhead white lanterns are used throughout the entire complex to create a continuity among the spaces.

Above L: A blue-stained plywood wall defines the area in the vegan raw restaurant. R: The yoga studio is painted with a mural by local artist Angelina Christina. Yoga mats are by Kharma Khare, made from car tires salvaged from landfills. 

Above: The way to the yoga studio. Because the building sits next to a trucking thoroughfare, the indoor air is filtered. Whatever the mechanical system can’t accomplish, air-filtering plants take on. 

Above: The shop is curated by Oakland’s Atomic Garden and includes organic clothing by LA-based LVR–the uniform-of-choice for yoga instructors at The Springs. 

Above: The Springs even offers indoor bike parking via Bike Tracs, made in the US by Wisconsin-based Saris. 

For further proof that what’s good for you can look good, too, see: 

• Blissed Out: A Serene Yoga Studio in Australia
• How to Achieve Total Darkness in the Bedroom
• The Butcher’s Daughter in New York City
• Required Reading: Green Kitchen Travels