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The Social Lights, a Minneapolis-based social media marketing agency, spent several years searching for the perfect space for their new HQ, and they stumbled—by accident—on an 8,500 sq ft vacancy on the first floor of the Steelman Exchange. The space was originally designated for retail. Punctuated by a series of 15-foot garage doors and ceiling heights ranging from 18’ to 8’, the space had its challenges, yet it proved to be the perfect canvas for a brand built on visibility, creativity, and real-time neighborhood connection.

As an agency focused on community and culture, the street-level location provides a unique opportunity to engage directly with the North Loop neighborhood. Unlike the typical upper-floor creative office, this space gives the brand a public presence, reflects its social-forward identity, and creates a workplace that is both immersive and accessible.

“The design team was tasked with transforming the raw space into a flexible, high-performance workplace that supports content creation, collaborative work, and community programming,” said Betsy Vohs, Studio BV Founder and CEO. “ Strategic architectural moves created zones with the experiences of their clients and workers in mind, and bold uses of color create dynamic impact and help define the visual space.”

The space features a private street-level entry door, which lands within the 8’ ceiling area—allowing for a moment of compression and a defined first impression. A welcoming reception desk, ample storage, a cozy lounge, and a custom neon sign offer an immediate sense of brand identity. Architecturally, a flexible training room, a generous boardroom, and a light-filled content studio are all adjacent to this entry and offer transparency through punctuated glazing. Visibility into these spaces helps illustrate what they do and contributes to a space that feels dynamic and energized—just like the work the client creates.

The varied ceiling heights within the suite also informed the team’s programming—focusing quieter, more heads-down spaces in the lower zone, and more social, dynamic areas in the taller volume. The workspace features open benching zones, flexible rooms and meeting pods, a dedicated content studio for video and photo work, and areas for informal collaboration. These spaces were designed to scale with the team, while still maintaining clarity and purpose. Key materials, furniture selections, and branding moments carry the identity throughout the space and reinforce the brand’s dynamic energy.

The café and open work area at the front-most corner of the space embrace the public nature of the suite. The street-facing garage doors offer an opportunity to engage with clear views into the space both during the day and at night. Our teams collaborated with renowned artist HOTTEA to create bold, colorful custom art/light to hang over the island. This creates an iconic experience that is visible from the street. The colors are bold and have a dynamic relationship to the colors used throughout the space.

The space features large concrete columns that dominate the space. The design team had them wrapped in colors that reflected the design palette with yarn and executed by the same artist, HOTTEA. These street-facing columns were designed with customized lighting to provide visibility and vibrancy at all hours. This serves as an extension of the agency’s ethos—social-first, dynamic, and creative. By turning a retail storefront into a social-first headquarters, this project redefines how creative companies can work and show up in their communities.

The Social Lights’ new headquarters is more than an office—it’s a living brand experience. It demonstrates how space can tell a story, foster culture, and connect a team to the city it serves.

Design: Studio BV
Contractor: Mission
Photography: Corey Gaffer