LAIKA Looking to Expand to New 350,000-Square-Foot Studio in Oregon

LAIKA‘s third feature film won’t be released for a few months, but that’s not stopping the Oregon-based studio from looking for new place to set up shop.

The Oregonian reports that LAIKA has been shopping around for a new site in Washington County, Oregon. Reports indicate that the studio is hoping to find a 350,000-square facility along Highway 26, which is very close to where its current studio is located.

Currently, the studio is based out of a 150,000-square-foot warehouse in Hillsboro. From the outside, it’s a bit plain and unappealing. There’s no doubt that a new space will be tailor-made to the unique stop-motion studio and will be dripping with design and creativity, which has become the norm in modern animation studio buildings. No word on whether this will be an already constructed building or if LAIKA will build it from scratch. This extra space would potentially double the studio’s capacity, allowing it to ramp up production to release a new stop-motion film each year.

LAIKA recently separated from its LAIKA/house division, which was its commercial arm. LAIKA now focuses entirely on feature films. According to LAIKA CEO Travis Knight, “it’s become clear that we need to devote all of our artistry, innovation, and resources towards our feature films in order to craft the distinctive and evocative stories for which LAIKA has become known.” This new extra-large space will definitely allow them to do just that.

The Boxtrolls, LAIKA’s third feature-length animated film, will release September 26, 2014.