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.

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 past, such as their Olson Kundig-designed LeBron James Innovation Center for prototyping and research, or their innovative approach to flagship stores in New York City and Shanghai.

Beyond Nike’s direct engagement with architecture and buildings through showrooms and research facilities, there are more unexpected intersections. In 2020, the brand’s Space Hippie footwear collection was released, which was created using scrap material from Nike factories. In 2018, meanwhile, Nike repurposed a historic Chicago church as a basketball court for local high schools, working with British firm Storey Studio to create an interior environment which is both industrial and eclectic.

The brand’s most acclaimed collaboration with architecture and design figures arguably came in 2019, when Nike collaborated with the late Virgil Abloh on the NikeLab Chicago Re-Creation Center. Celebrating sustainability and experimental design, the project’s carefully choreographed interior was designed by Abloh to encourage young people to visit the store to imagine their own future in shoe design.

Nike’s emphasis on architectural thinking has also translated into job opportunities. In one of the earliest editions of our Job Highlights series, we showcased a position of Global Retail Designer at Nike/Jordan Brand based in Portland, Oregon. This week, we return to the brand as part of the same series to highlight an open position at Nike for a Computational Designer.

Based in Beaverton, Oregon, the job would see the successful applicant join Nike’s NXT Digital Innovation team, which Nike says “provides a competitive advantage to our creation teams by fuelling product innovation and craft.” As the team emphasizes innovative technologies and skills as part of their workflow, the job opening calls for candidates with expertise in 2D and 3D product design and computational design software.

The job advertisement in full can be found over on Archinect Jobs here. Stay tuned for future curated job highlights and be sure to keep your eyes peeled for more exciting opportunities on Archinect's industry-leading job board. Recent editions of our Job Highlights series have seen career opportunities for modular housing designers, model makers at BIG, and exhibition designers at The Met.