About our Studio, The Brick House

Roundtable during TWiT 311, the first show at the brickhouse

The TWiT Brick House is the name of the TWiT Studios in Petaluma California. Almost all of the Netcasts on the TWiT network are recorded there.

The TWiT Brick House replaced the former TWiT studio, The TWiT Cottage, which had housed all of TWiTs shows since 2005.

The new building cost in excess of US$1.2 million. It took over 7 months for the Studio to be built and be ready to be used for broadcasting. The first show that was broadcast from the TWiT Brick House was TWiT 311 on July 24, 2011.

Info

Location

Studio Audience

If you want to visit the Brick House and be in the studio audience, email tickets@twit.tv. 20 to 30 audience members can be accommodated. Shows in Leo's office have room for up to 8 audience members. Visitors will be required to sign a waiver. Refer to our Tickets page for more information.

Floor Plans

First Floor

The Bricks in the front foyer of the TWiT Brickhouse

  • TWiT sold personalized bricks in the entrance lobby as a fundraiser.
  • Sets:
    • Leo's studio/office, modelled to be like the old TWiT Cottage
    • Newsroom
    • The round table
    • The living room
    • Sky box elevated set
    • Radio Corner (Leo's Ham Station and an antique AM transmitter and mixing board)
  • Another glassed in office for Lisa Laporte, CEO of TWiT
  • Three other offices off of the studio room
  • A room for editors
  • A room for producers
  • A large kitchen/dining area
  • A reception area with the brick Wall of Honor
  • A conference room
  • A loading dock with conveyor belt to the basement which is used as "Studio B" for offline recording
  • A large green screen studio with cyclorama

Basement

The fire sprinklers in the basement are too low for the space to be up to code as an office area. The equipment necessary to make TWiT happen (the Tricaster, audio and video processing equipment, Streamomatic, etc) is stored in the basement, with only the control surfaces upstairs. This keeps the noisy, heat-generating equipment off the sets.

The hosts of Know How have established a "Know Hole" in the basement with space for working on projects for the show.

The basement is also used for storage.

Trivia

  • The name "The Brick TWiT House" was thought up by Dick DeBartolo in a Daily Giz Wiz episode where Leo and Dick were pondering a new name to replace "The TWiT Cottage". Leo described the new place as being a brick building as opposed to the wood-based TWiT Cottage.
  • The building is the former home of BiAS Sound. The building has also served as a drug store, and was originally built as a furniture factory.
  • The set was designed by Roger C. Ambrose (known for the "arches" Screen Savers set)
  • Leo's "Dr. Evil" chair on the round table set is from Restoration Hardware.
  • The TWiT Brick House is just under two blocks away from the former TWiT studio, The TWiT Cottage.
  • The first show broadcast from the TWiT Brick House was TWiT 311 on July 24, 2011.
  • The new building cost US$1.2 million

Walk Throughs and Images

Check out the new digs at Google Street View