The dream of having an office in a former factory, with high ceilings and a prairie-sized floor plan set against a backdrop of the city, forgets some basic facts about old industrial plants. For instance, they’re not known for their light and air quality.

In Buenos Aires, the Brazilian architecture firm Pop-Arq brightened a warehouse’s narrow, corridor-like rooms on behalf of motion graphics studio ELOISA. Their strategy included installing submarine-style windows and “lamp walls,” contraptions containing fluorescent lights set between two layers of polycarbonate sheets. As a capstone, a miniature glass “house” was placed over the spiral staircase to create discrete space for employees without resorting to cubicles.

Converting a factory into an office is a full-time job, one that can sap even the liveliest businesses, but ELOISA creative director Martin Lanciano says the team is more energized now than ever: “We think that being surrounded by good design makes us work better—it helps us to be more demanding, to set the bar higher.”

Photos by Martin Lanciano