Archinect - News

See inside Nike's new Serena Williams-themed office building

2022-07-20T19:18:00-04:00

Portland-based Skylab Architecture has shared new photos of its recently-completed signature office building dedicated to an American tennis legend (and design aficionado) and located at Nike’s World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon.

The more-than-one-million-square-foot Serena Williams Building, anchored around a 12-story tower, was designed to help the sportswear giant maximize creative workflow and efficiency inside a new 2,750-person office whose focus is similar to recent workplace designs for other large corporations that are equally bent on re-instilling collaboration in a post-pandemic world.

Photo: Jeremy Bittermann

According to the architects, the theme of the “warrior muse,” a nod to the building’s namesake, served as material inspiration throughout the LEED Platinum-certified facility’s art-filled collection of workplaces, conference rooms, dining areas, laboratory spaces, and other coworking amenities.

Photo: Jeremy Bit...

Nike’s intriguing experiments in architectural ideas, projects, and jobs

2022-04-21T11:42:00-04:00

What do the Centre Pompidou and the Bauhaus have in common? Beyond their seismic impact on the architectural discourse of the 20th and 21st centuries, both in fact served as inspiration for versions of Nike Air Max sneakers.

In 2019, the global sports retailer debuted the Air Max 270 React, whose bold colors paid homage to the influential Bauhaus movement. One year previous, a special Air Max edition with colored tubes along the seams and fabric lines was released as a tribute to the Centre Pompidou. The tribute was not without reason, given that the original Air Max 1 was itself inspired by the designer’s visit to the Pompidou, most notably the shoe’s signature Air bubble element.

Related on Archinect: Would you wear these Bauhaus-inspired Nike shoes?

The Bauhaus and Pompidou versions of the Air Max are part of Nike’s long-standing use of architectural principles and elements to showcase and evolve its brand. Several Nike-commissioned projects have been featured on Archinect in the...

Virgil Abloh, visionary in design and fashion, passes away at 41 following cancer battle

2021-11-28T15:43:00-05:00

The acclaimed designer Virgil Abloh has passed away at the age of 41 after a two-year battle with cancer. The American designer and entrepreneur was originally trained as an architect, but his impact on the design world was felt throughout fashion, interior design, music, and product design.

While a student of the Master in Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Abloh developed an interest in fashion having been partly inspired by a Rem Koolhaas building under construction at the campus. Following collaborations with Kanye West, Abloh founded the high-end streetwear brand Off-White in 2013. In 2018, he become the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear ready-wear line, while one year later, he was appointed to the board of directors of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Related on Archinect: AMO-designed new flagship for Virgil Ab...

Inside Olson Kundig’s LeBron James Innovation Center for Nike

2021-10-05T14:01:00-04:00

Nike has offered a glimpse inside the Olson Kundig-designed LeBron James Innovation Center, located in Beaverton, Oregon. The 750,000-square-foot facility, which opened this week, will be used by the global sports brand as a base for research, prototyping, and testing for both data analysis and products.

Image via Nike

The building will house 700 employees dedicated to material and product innovation. Outside, a 500-foot-long 15% incline ramp folds down to an entrance plaza underneath the building’s imposing cantilever. The interior, in addition to housing a state-of-the-art sports research lab, features a restaurant named after LeBron’s mother Gloria Marie James, complete with a mural depicting highlights of the sports star’s career.

Image via Nike

The cantilevering top floor of the center hosts the Nike Sports Research Lab, an 84,000-square-foot facility, home to the world’s largest motion-capture installation with 400 cameras. The lab also houses a full-size NBA basketball court, ...

Nike's Jordan Brand is looking for a Global Retail Designer to help create the future of retail design

2021-08-18T15:08:00-04:00

Even before the pandemic, brands like Nike were pushing for innovative ways to engage with customers and reinvigorate their retail stores. With destinations like the Nike Shanghai House of Innovation and Nike Soho storefront, fans of the beloved brand went for the shoes and stayed for the experience. As fashion and retail businesses look to expand their approaches to retail design, Nike is searching for a new crop of designers to help imagine the future of retail.

As part of Archinect's job highlights series, we recently showcased an opportunity to work as a Project Designer for a firm specializing in living walls and green roofs. This week, we're profiling the Nike/Jordan Brand as they search for a Global Retail Designer.

Nike Shanghai House of Innovation Image © Nike

The position is located in Portland, Oregon near Nike's World Headquarters. This job is ideal for a design professional who is not only passionate about the brand but someone with "diverse experience, problem-solving a...

Nike's new 'Space Hippie' is made from factory floor scraps

2020-02-06T11:54:00-05:00

Due to drop this spring, Nike's Space Hippie is an exploratory footwear collection created from the company's "space junk." It takes scrap material from Nike factories and alchemizes it into expressive footwear. "It is about figuring out how to make the most with the least material, the least energy and the least carbon," said John Hoke, Nike Chief Design Officer in a statement.

Nike Space Hippie 01. © Nike

Nike Space Hippie 02. © Nike

Nike Space Hippie 03. © Nike

Nike Space Hippie 04. © Nike

Every aspect of the design of the collection was decided with its environmental impact in mind. That includes material selection, packaging, and even how the shoes are made. Looking to make a more "circular" product, the Nike team dove deep to explore how they might turn trash into something beautiful. "We must think about the entire process: how we design it, how we make it, how we use it, how we reuse it and how we cut out waste at every step. These are the fundamentals of a circular mindset that...

Would you wear these Bauhaus-inspired Nike shoes?

2019-06-27T17:39:00-04:00

Perhaps the dream shoe for any Bauhaus enthusiast looking to stay "fresh," Nike has released their Nike Air Max 270 React with a lead colorway paying homage to the iconic Bauhaus school. The vibrant color palette would make any color theorist jump with excitement. The blue, red, yellow, and turquoise color accents are synonymous with the school — sure to catch the attention of any architecture or sneaker enthusiast.

Image © Nike

Nike shares in their June news announcement, "The initial release of the Nike Air Max 270 React share a consistent foundation in art and design history. Each colorway translates a specific artistic style or movement in its blocking and hues. The lead launch colorway, for example, heralds the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus's founding by recalling the school’s formal studies of asymmetrical balance." Nike notes the shoe will have other color options inspired by "mid-century color blocking" and "San Francisco psychedelia."

Image © Nike

If Kandinsky...

Virgil Abloh's take on the future of retail design could be another stepping stone for Nike

2019-06-03T12:51:00-04:00

Called the NikeLab Chicago Re-Creation Center, the space feels like being inside a giant Nike shoebox designed by Abloh himself. It features the self-aware, over-indexed print labeling that Abloh is known for. The Re-Creation Center sign itself has “for promotional use only” printed on top. The rest of the space’s irony is more subtle, or arguably nonexistent.

Virgil Abloh is a name that's grown synonymous with what is trending in design and fashion. A connoisseur of creating new things from the simplest of concepts, Abloh's collaboration with Nike has emphasized his influence not only in design but in design culture. Having worked with some of the biggest names in fashion, the arts, and sports, it's not hard to imagine Abloh's dive into retail design.

Nike's new Re-Creation store in Chicago focuses on the celebration of merging sustainability with experiential design. With online shoppingtaking over the consumer market brands like Nike have teamed with architects and influential designs like Abloh to take a new and improved approach to the concept of retail design.

From the walls to the chairs in the space, the concept of "re-creation" is all around the store. The walls of the store are lined with shoeboxes and the other pieces in the store are made from "Grind," a material Nike coined which consists of ...

Does your job search include lush forest scenery, ample bike paths, and Nike? Check out these Oregon-based architectural job opportunities

2019-01-25T12:05:00-05:00

Looking for a taste of the Pacific Northwest? Oregon offers a little bit of everything. For those searching to work in an city filled with green landscapes, parks, eco-friendly coffee shops, and a charming city culture, Portland is the place.

Below are 8 Portland-based firms looking to hire the perfect candidate for their team.

Yost Grube Hall Architecture seeks a Project Manager, Senior Marketing/BD Director, and two other candidate positions
Yost Grube Hall Architecture is a growing design firm seeking energetic, self-motivated, creative people looking to work in an open, team-based environment.

Waechter Architecture is seeking an Architect/Designer
Waechter Architecture is seeking a designer with 1-3 years of office experience who will work as part of a team, assisting project leads with all aspects of project work from design to construction administration. Each person i...

Nike is tackling more than just athletics with their new flagship stores

2018-12-04T09:56:00-05:00

Nike, the multi-billion dollar retail company has transformed the sports industry since its original debut in 1970's when they were formerly known as Blue Ribbon Sports. Today, the multinational corporation has flagship stores all over the world. As innovative as they are with their shoe and clothing brand, Nike does not hesitate to test the waters when it comes to brick and motor stores. Opening NikeTown, their first flagship store 25 years ago, their goal was to reinvent the retail space.

However, with the recent opening of their newest flagship store in New York how is Nike attempting to change the way retail stores look, feel, and most importantly affect their consumers? Heidi O'Neil, President of Nike Direct, explains what the future of retail looks like for the sport enterprise. Nike Direct, a division within Nike focuses on three elements of Nike's consumer division: e-commerce, consumer relations, and digital Nike+ products. By approaching these retail spaces by deepening t...

Nike transforms historic Chicago church into basketball court for young hoopers

2018-09-19T17:33:00-04:00

It has been said that sport is a religion, and a new pop-up court in Chicago facilitated by Nike takes this quite literally. The Church of Epiphany, dating back to 1885, has been converted by the shoe company into its latest Just Do It HQ. Decked out in custom stained glass, the former historic place of worship has become a site for local high school basketball teams to shoot some hoops.

Photography by Mo Daoud.

The conversion is the work of Storey Studio, a British design studio that has collaborated with Nike on a number of colorful projects. Outfitted with a state-of-the-art basketball court, sports gym, and locker room, their latest work was open for the month of August, offering activities such as interactive youth workshops, training, and school clinics. Former Bulls star Scottie Pippen even stopped by to share some advice with local high school athletes.

Photography by Mo Daoud.

This converted church is the latest example of Nike'...