cares about. The New Dynamic Workplace

The photography bays were designed with flexibility in mind. They don’t have hard boundaries so that they can be configured to any creative setup or product shoot that Nike may need.

Nike has long been heralded as an innova-

tor in athletic wear, but behind the swoosh, Nike had a brand imaging problem—namely that all of its product photography processes were isolated in different locations. For a global brand with an extensive product line, the separation was cumbersome at best, highly inefficient at worst.

Enter Nike Icon Studios LA, the brand’s flagship photography and creative studio in Los Angeles. Completed in 2019, the space was designed by Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects (LOHA) to bring together all of the company’s brand imaging departments from pre- to post-production into one central hub where Nike’s creative team can, well, just do it—all right then and there.

“Essentially Nike streamlined all of these photography components into a new brand imaging operation for all of the Nike products you know—sneakers, hoodies, Jordans, everything,” says Lorcan O’Herlihy, founder and design principal at LOHA. “The building was designed to accommodate how the products are prepped, primed, dressed on models, photographed, edited, and marketed worldwide.”

Because the building itself—a core and shell building by Eric Owen Moss Architects— is so linear, LOHA organized the building along its central spine similar to a conveyor belt. Starting on the ground floor, Nike products come into the building at the loading dock, where they then move throughout the various creative zones before ending up in the photography bays. Think of it as an assembly line: a continuous path from the beginning to end, though more principled and natural. “Given the linear building, there was an idea that we can take advantage of getting the product through each step efficiently,” O’Herlihy says. “Every single area has continuity, and the whole process is happening under one roof. So it’s all really about process in a sense, but there are loose boundaries.”

“Loose” being the operative word. As a way to increase creativity and flexibility, all of the photography bays are divided by movable black curtains rather than hard walls, with the intention being that Nike can arrange the studio space as needed. You can remove all of the curtains to create one large space, or keep them in place to designate up to 14 individual studios.

Above the photo bays on the mezzanine level is the post-production and editing hub, as well as various conference rooms, that overlook the studio happenings below. “We

Felt acoustic baffles separate the postproduction area on the mezzanine level from the photo studios, allowing employees working above to look down and remain connected to the people and projects happening below.

SITE PLAN

PROJECT: Nike Icon Studios LA ARCHITECT: Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects LOCATION: Los Angeles

Size: 50,000 square feet Completion: 2019 MEP Engineer: ARUP Structural Engineers: JRMA Contractor: Samitaur Constructs

“We wanted to go with a lighter palette so light could bounce around,” O’Herlihy says. The stairwell is also perforated so light can filter through it.

didn’t want to fully separate the photo bays; we wanted the opportunity for those working on the mezzanine level to be able to see the products being photographed,” O’Herlihy says. “If you’re upstairs and working, you can look down and see the production happening. You’re not separated completely from the workshops.”

The connectivity between spaces is a prime example of the space’s social agency, something O’Herlihy says is vital to architecture. “I’m convinced that the role of an architect is to create an environment and opportunities for people to gather and hang out,” he says. It’s why, outside of the more function-driven spaces, community was a core tenet of the project. Both levels have what is referred to as a hub, or a common area where employees can come together, eat, or take a break, in addition to the building’s large outdoor patio. “We celebrated gathering spaces and wanted to make sure they had a really nice experience and that we created an opportunity to gather.”

Sustainably speaking, LOHA focused the interiors on passive design with an emphasis on cross ventilation. They took advantage of existing operable windows and skylights and bifold exterior doors to promote natural ventilation throughout.

Because light is crucial to photography, it was crucial to the building’s design. The space has abundant natural light filtered throughout the building so that does not disturb the space’s creative functions. Acoustic felt baffles separate the mezzanine level from the photo bays below, for instance, and are positioned to block southern light and bring in north light, promoting soft indirect sunlight rather than harsh direct rays.

Although the studio space is steeped in a need for improved functionality, O’Herlihy says its commitment to artistry is what makes the project successful. “Our work is about science and art. We produce architecture, recognizing that it has to work and function well and is about the culture of people, but we bring artistry to that experience,” O’Herlihy says. “Nike is similar: They create amazing products for athletes to excel in what they do, and they design extraordinary artistic components. In a sense, I felt that was a very interesting parallel in our work and perhaps why they hired us, because we could give them a robust space organized efficiently to distill the whole photographic process from product to print, but we never lost the artistry in that.” g

Like the studios inside, the outdoor space is flexible. All of the seating is movable and can be arranged to accommodate employees meeting outside for work or just hanging out and taking a break.

Slowing Down with Sharp House

Architect Marc Thorpe argues that less is more—and smarter.

WORDS BY J. LIVY LI

Sharp House was designed with an eye on materials and geometry. The NeoBrutalist approach to space is reflected as a byproduct in the building’s appearance. According to the architect, the house is designed as a declaration against the gloss of mainstream architectural practice, which he says tends to focus on exterior “decorative” facades and arbitrary forms.

Sharp House is a study of space, light, and shadow, and the design takes into serious consideration its ecological impact.

“When I was in architecture school at

Parsons, I did all my drawings by hand,” Marc Thorpe says with a laugh. After getting his master’s in architecture, Thorpe moved to Europe to hone his craft, working with the likes of Cappellini and Moroso. “I wanted to work with Italian brands that were of the highest quality but also the avant-garde ones that made dreams real,” he says. After an eventual breakthrough working with these brands, he established his namesake studio in 2010.

Thorpe’s circuitous route through the design world has most recently resulted in the design of Sharp House, a low-slung house just north of Santa Fe. Originally a concept for upstate New York, the design was picked out by client George Sharp and his wife for a retirement home.

“They’re longtime New Yorkers and quintessential minimalists,” Thorpe says. “It’s about keeping it as tight as possible. It was more an execution of minimalism and trying to overemphasize the simplicity of what a space can be functionally.”

The Sharps’ ideals of reductivisim aligned well with Thorpe’s, resulting in a deceptively simple design that made the most of both its materiality and geometry. “Economical design and minimalism go in tandem,” Thorpe says. Concrete is the star of the show here, providing thermal mass and natural insulation so as to keep the house warm at night and cool during the day. Thorpe recounts that the Sharps insisted on the material: “The design could easily be translated into wood or the like, but they wanted concrete. I personally thought concrete would be a nice material because of its tactility. And it’s an honest material, to communicate exactly what the building is.” The design is reminiscent of tropical building tradition, with sweeping overhangs covering entryways and recessed ribbon windows cutting into the building’s monolithic concrete facade. The large glass windows to the north and south help mitigate the semi-arid Santa Fe climate, allowing natural cross ventilation. “That’s how the rest of the world builds,” Thorpe says,