preface
PREAMBLE
The Expansion Of Nike World Headquarters, which has been launched again in 2015, has revealed the mysterious "base camp" of Nike. The eight-year-long expansion plan has presented a blueprint for the future of several new buildings, including office buildings, laboratories, convention centers and many other functional buildings, as well as theme buildings that continue the Nike tradition and are named after champion athlete Sebastian Coe and legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski.
The LeBron James Innovation Center, unveiled last year as the Nike Exercise Research Lab, has once again aroused curiosity about the Nike Athletes Theme Building, at which point the Serena Williams Building, a themed building named after outstanding athlete Serena Williams, will be erected at Nike World Headquarters as a "new landmark" for the theme building in the park.
NIKE opened the largest office building on the campus of its global headquarters named after Serena Williams.
△Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American professional tennis player. To date, she has been named world number one in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 319 consecutive weeks, including a combined record of 186 consecutive weeks and a five-time year-end first place. She won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most of any player in the Open era.
△ Serena Williams
Designed by portland-based Skylab, the 1 million-square-foot building is now Nike's largest office building at its global headquarters.
Designed by Portland Architecture company Skylab Architecture in collaboration with Mark Parker, former CEO and current CEO of Nike, the building is first drawn to its unique shape: the tallest building as the main tower and 3 branches extending in different directions. The architect in charge of the building shared the inspiration with us: the building's triple structure was inspired by Serena's great tennis achievements, with the main tower symbolizing Nike's iconic Wing of victory and the three wings dubbed "Extraordinary Man", "Warrior" and "Inspiration".
△ Founder of skylab architecture
Architectural design
BUILDING
DESIGN
△ The branches of the building spread out from the tower like wings
Nike's campus is located on the Oregon Hills and features a central tower from which it appears to have five wings. While the building's five separate wings extend for the connection by a series of skybridges.
John Hoke, Nike's Chief Design Officer, likens architecture to a "catalyst" for Nike's creativity: "This building demonstrates Serena's legacy through its dual pursuit of form and function, a force that drives positive change." As the integrated, multi-functional office areas drive change within the Serena Williams Building, the building also embodies Nike's social responsibility to maximize the care and protection of the original natural environment while building a majority of civil engineering.
Nike WHQ's largest office building embodies every aspect of Serena – the logo's slash is modeled after his tennis stroke.
△ The exterior of the overpass is covered with a black panel
The building has a two-part tower connected by a series of flyovers. The façade of the building is covered with dark panels and glass, with dark stone walls at the bottom.
The LEED Platinum-certified Serena Williams Building's ecological philosophy is in line with the Nike World Headquarters campus: it is not only Nike's "world headquarters", but also a leisure place where athletes, employees and visitors can be exposed to and live with nature everywhere. To achieve this, the architects seem to have "embedded" the entire building in the natural environment, using recyclable materials as the building's building raw materials, and skillfully using the building's structure to complete the internal circulation and full use of energy.
Great inspiration
INSPIRED
BY GREATNESS
"It's a suffocating building that inspires you with every element, every corner." Serena shared the excitement of seeing the theme building that bears its name, and when we actually walked into the interior of the Serena Williams Building, we couldn't help but feel the same way as Serena: in a sense, the building may have truly realized the "Grand Slam" of Serena Williams' life.
Serena Williams Building
Nike
Everywhere in the Serena Williams Building, you can find the same "key word" – tennis. Tennis is an unquestionably important part of Serena Williams' life, and the architects have written the story of the outstanding female athlete in a special way by incorporating tennis elements into the various spaces of the building. The restaurant service area named after the world's four major tennis tournaments, the souvenir box showcasing Serena's 23 Grand Slams, and even the "Flushing Park" washroom in New York, which represents the US Open, are rich elements that run through everything about tennis in Serena's career, paying tribute to her unwavering love of tennis.
# Entrance to the building #
Female artists from all over the world, with their respective strengths, sketch the personal colors belonging to Serena Williams in this building. The "Pulsating" sculpture on the outside of the building consists of four LED lighthouses that use abstract digital motion graphics to illustrate Serena's dynamic posture.
△The W logo is based on a white rose
# Atrium of the building #
Jenny Sabin designed the SinewFlex sculpture for the public space
Inside, the space features a variety of materials and color palettes. Graphics, logos and custom rugs depict Nike design themes. And some floors are made from recycled Nike soles.
The third floor is a painting inspired by Serena's family story by Australian artist Gemma O'Brien, while a Sinew Flex multi-story sculpture by artist Jenny Sabine occupies the 4th to 5th floors of the building. While stopping to admire the diverse art installations, it's also hard to ignore the rose elements that are scattered throughout the Serena Williams Building – the traditional bouquet of roses that have been winners of the Wimbledon Open since the 1880s and are also Serena's favorites.
As a female athlete, Serena Williams has been committed to promoting women's voice in sports, and has openly advocated for equal pay for equal work for men and women in the industry and eliminating long-standing gender bias. The feminine power gathered here by Serena is now transformed into the diverse artistic ingenuity of Serena Williams Buidling, and the huge art installations and paintings covering the walls by female artists seem to invisibly echo Serena's voice, with this theme building rising from the ground as a "microphone", spreading women's voices to all corners of the world.
# Lobby details #
This textured wall at the lobby entrance displays facts and statistics about Serena, including words such as "phenomenon," "warrior," and "muse."
In the lobby, a series of glass cabinets are displayed. The glass cases are divided into groups by major tennis tournaments and souvenirs of each of her iconic victories. The number of columns in each group represents the number of times she wins each match.
There is also a gallery in the lobby. This gallery is designed to mimic new York City's luxury condominiums, filled with family memories and moments of Serena's life.
The building's Nike employees have an unimaginably large office space, in addition to the regular office area, there is no shortage of functional areas that amplify the efficiency of teamwork: the Footwear Product Materials Library and the Color Matching Design Laboratory assume the dual functions of archives and workspaces, and the immersive space with 180-degree surround visual projection equipment enables new ways of visualizing information based on advances in digital technology, further enhancing the connection between products and lives.
# Conference hall #
△ Open-plan meeting space in the new Serena Williams building
The facilities at the Serena Williams building allow the design, insight and product sales teams to work together "for the first time." There is also 140,000 square feet of workspace and showroom, as well as a footwear library.
# Double-decker theater #
Located on the 7th-8th floors of the main tower, named after Serena's proudest honor of her life, her daughter Olympia, the theater can accommodate up to 140 guests and is equipped with an immersive space with 180-degree surround visual projection equipment.
# Staff canteen #
△ The café has racket-shaped pillars
In honor of Serena's achievements in "Three Laps of Grand Slams", the food service area in the building is named after the Four Grand Slams. The American Open Cafe is decorated with murals by female Artists in New York with a commemorative poster of Serena's 6-degree US Open victory.
French Open restaurant ▽
Dedicated to Serena's three victories at the French Open, bronze pays homage to the iconic clay court, with posters of the French Open displayed on the pillars.
Australian Open restaurant ▽
Named after the Australian Open or Oz – Serena has won seven times – the ceiling depicts Melbourne's night sky, with a few hidden stars.
Wimbledon Bar ▽
Wimbledon Bar is located on the tenth floor of the building, and the mosaic has a double meaning: the rose is Serena's favorite flower, and it has been a rose that has been presented to Wimbledon champions since 1886.
Space for innovation
INNOVATION SPACE
△ Design analysis drawing
#色彩实验室 #
Designers can develop the next Nike product and its color scheme in this spacious laboratory.
# Materials Lab #
Designers draw resources from vast collections of materials and libraries to pool resources to create the next great product.
# Retail Lab #
△ Skylights and woven metal slipped off one of the building's "fingers"
The building's third floor features 200,000 square feet of lab space for Nike's consumer creation team to develop and test new ideas.
In a nod to Serena, arches representing rackets have been added to the interior of the Skylab Architecture building.
At the same time, an immersive space was created inside the workspace, allowing the team to fully explore the retail experience before they became IRL.
A legacy that continues
A LEGACY
SUSTAINED
△ Design structure 3
# Roof garden #
On the fourth floor, the roof garden achieves the goal of integrating nature into the architectural design.
# Exterior of the building #
△ The exterior of the building is a garden for Nike employees to enjoy
△ This wall highlights the names of athletes who support social change
An elevated outdoor walkway boasts an expansive garden equipped with nurse logs to support future greenery, including fungal culture.
# Shoe Dog Bridge #
The SHOE Dog Bridge, designed by PLACE, is located in the wetlands of the campus
While living in harmony with the ecological environment, the tribute to the Nike brand heritage and athlete spirit can be seen in the special building "Shoe Dog Bridge" of the Serena Williams Building. The Shoe Dog Bridge is the first covered pedestrian bridge in the Nike World Headquarters campus, drawing inspiration from the Oregon landscape where the brand's founder, Phil Knight, once lived, and the creative origami structure blends the old and the old with the historically homaged porch and cantilever, combining different possibilities, and embodying the sport and innovation spirit that Nike has always upheld.
# Country Club #
The gem of the venue around the southwest is undoubtedly the East Compton Hills Country Club.
A fully regulated tennis court with wooden grandstands for spectators to watch. The name of the campus network is a nickname for Serena's father, Richard Williams, and is the public court where she and her sister Williams played as children.
Nike once again conveys the brand's concept with innovative architecture, and once again co-branded with sports stars.
Reference
Together Design / DPB Architectural Design / HYPEBEAST