Nike: The Latest Architecture and News

SPF:architects has topped out construction on WE3 at Water’s Edge, a six-story creative office building in Playa Vista. The 183,000 square foot structure along Silicon Beach encompasses four floors of open creative workspace, with upper floors of the structure wrapped in a “floating” perforated aluminum skin.

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Nike has announced that the latest building in its World Headquarters (WHQ) campus expansion will be named after LeBron James. The new building is designed by Olson Kundig and will be home to Nike’s Beaverton-based Advanced Innovation team. The project will include a state-of-the-art Sport Research Lab and explore the future of sports science.

Nike's New York flagship store, primely located on Fifth Avenue, is perhaps the closest thing to a temple in the digital age. At a massive 68,000 square feet, it commands attention and symbolically dwarfs even its skyscraper surroundings. The exterior facade features a grid of undulating glass that casts glimmering shadows both inside and out. Inside, a tractor-beam type installation hangs from the ceiling, giving the space-age flavor. There's no set ritual or tradition like in the temples of old, but sneakerheads might certainly feel they've found their heaven on earth.

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Nike House of Innovation 000 continues the athletic brand’s redefinition. As a company that prides itself on the innovative design of its foot and athletic wear, Nike has chosen to design its retail locations to reflect a new generation in sports performance. The House of Innovation maintains a foundation in flexible design, allowing the retailer to provide its patron with an immersive brand experience.

The store concept is described as “one floor, one world.” Each floor, inspired by the sounds and movement of New York, highlights different collections within the Nike brand. The retail program of each floor gets more specific as the levels increase. The 68,000 square-foot, six-level destination is the second Nike House of Innovation. The first was opened in Shanghai last month. These stores are the first of a new generation of sport retail experiences for Nike, numbered sequentially around the globe.

Nike has announced that it will release a special edition of its Air Max 1 range, inspired by the iconic Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. The special edition pays tribute to the Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano-designed structure, which is credited by designer Tinker Hatfield as the inspiration behind his original Air Max 1 range.

Two upcoming editions of the Air Max 1 will honor the building, with colored tubes appearing along the seams and lines of the fabric, as well as the sole. A large P logo on the translucent sole offers a further tribute to the controversial structure, opened in 1977.

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Videos

NIKE has created a new experimental lab for running aficionados: the world’s first full-sized LED racing track. Built as a pop-up in Manila, Philippines, the "Unlimited Stadium" coincided with the launch of their new LunarEpic running shoe. The 200m long figure-8 course follows the imprint of the running shoe, scaled up to a 100ft long footprint lighting up the heart of Manila.

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Global sportswear brand Nike, in collaboration with urban planning consultants Strelka KB, has announced the winners of the competition to design a new Nike sports facility in Gorky Park, located at the heart of Moscow. The competition asked five of Russia’s leading young architecture studios – KOSMOS Architects, Rhizome, Novoe, Crosby Studios and Xора – to envision a “unique architectural object” that seamless integrates into the surrounding park environment, creating a landmark hub for sport and physical activity for Russia.

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At the Rio 2016 Olympics, Studio GTM Cenografia developed a temporary installation for Nike. The space, inspired by containers and industrial sheds, occupies a total area of 600 square meters and was built in a metallic structure and wrapped in galvanized trapezoidal tiles. The cube used in the project is an installation from Brazilian artist and designer Muti Randolph, one of the pioneers of digital illustration in Brazil.

Our friends from ArchDaily Brasil talked with the architect Daltro Mendonça (GTM Cenografia) to find out more details on material choices and the execution of the project.

Nike has unveiled plans to expand their World Headquarters, located near Beaverton, Oregon. Their campus first opened in 1990 and has undergone three waves of construction, doubling its size. Now, Nike will expand the facility again, adding 3.2 million square feet of office, mixed-use and parking facilities.