There doesn’t need to be a child screaming in the background of a Zoom call for most people to realize that working parents have it rough. Balancing the full-time job of parenting with a full-time office job can be overwhelming. A new coworking company wants to make that balancing act a little easier.
BümoWork is a combination coworking space and child care center, located in the Westfield Century City Mall, on the west side of Los Angeles. Offering a high-end aesthetic and catering to the parents of children ages 6 months to 7 years, the company is trying to do two very different things at once.
“The whole idea is a space that is elevated, that is adult, that is sophisticated to work in that’s conjoined with a space that is child-focused, that’s creative, that’s clean, and that’s inspirational for children, too,” Nguyen says.
The 4,000 square foot BümoWork facility has room for 40 adults and 26 children, and is split into three discrete spaces: coworking, child care, and a central reception area with private rooms where parents and kids can come together during the day or where mothers can breastfeed.
“The two sides are joined but separated,” says Nguyen, noting that neither side can hear the noise of the other. “Kids need to play and not be distracted by their parents, and parents need to work and not be distracted by their kids.”
The coworking side is geared toward millennial parents seeking a temporary or full-time break from their overlapping work and parenting lives. Lim, who traveled a lot for work pre-pandemic, says the aesthetic was inspired by the experience of walking into an airport lounge. “I wanted that feeling of okay, I have my own space, it feels luxurious, it feels like a treat being here, I can plug in and get to work,” she says.
To bring this idea into built form, BümoWork hired New York-based Heitler Houstoun Architects, which specializes in high-end interiors. The design uses modern furnishings, pale wood, and a pastel color palette.
The child care side is distinctly different. “All of our design energy was spent at the level of the kids. It’s something we’ve thought about a lot over the years and that typically gets overlooked,” says architect Josh Heitler. “We just wanted to reward a curious kid at that level. So we purposely did all of our design renderings on that side from a toddler’s eye level.”
Lim and Nguyen are hoping that this Los Angeles location is just the company’s first, and they are in talks with corporations and hotels about potentially integrating versions of BümoWork in those spaces. But combining coworking and child care into one facility is more difficult than it might seem, especially from a logistical perspective. “This project was one of the most complicated projects we’ve ever done. From compliance, zoning, regulation, licensing, there were so many layers to make sure that it met all of the requirements,” Heitler says. “Building departments are pretty reactive, and they’re not always good at new things.”
“Before we were so used to this archaic idea of you had to work 9 to 5 and be this absentee parent if you didn’t have a super flexible job,” Nguyen says. “Now we’ve been exposed to this idea that, hey, I can actually go pick up my kids from school, do a little activity with them, play with them, and then plug back into work.”
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