Wallpaper Magazine by Samir El Bourachdi

FĂŠvrier 2012

ARCHITECTURE

The Saguaro Scottsdale

Stamberg Aferiat Architecture, the studio behind Shelter Island House (see W*144) has designed The Saguaro hotel in Scottsdale, integrating its trademark aesthetic of high American Modernism and zinging colours. The brainchild of New Yorkbased hotel developers Sydell Group,

the 194 rooms lodging is inspired by the hues of the indigenous wildflowers of Arizona and houses chef Jose Garce’s ‘ Distrito ’ restaurant, serving a great modern Mexican cuisine. Saguaro spa offers a wide variety of invigorating beauty treatments and massages, and, for a further health

kick, there are a wide array of activities available, from hiking to golf. Run by Joie de Vivre - California’s largest boutique hotel collection - Saguaro Scottsdale is soon to be followed by Saguaro Palm Springs, due to open in February.

Arizona US

4000 N Drinkwater Blvd, Scottsdale. AZ 85251; tel: +1.480 308 1100. www.jdvhotels.com

ARCHITECTURE

New ‘Laces’ Adidas HQ

The Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach is the sporting footwear capital of the world, thanks to the corporate presence of both Adidas and Puma. The two firms were founded by the Dassler brothers in the post-war era, following the break-up of their family company, and each continues to tread the same space in the marketplace, with distinctive, globally recognised brand identities. In need of a new HQ, Adidas turned to an architectural competition, seeking a new structure to add to the already healthy chunk of real estate. The winners were the German-Austrian practice of Kadawittfeldarchitektur, founded by Gerhard Wittfeld and Klaus Kada and based in Aachen.  See more of Laces, Adidas’ new HQ in Herzogenaurach Kadawittfeldarchitektur took issue with the official brief. ‘They were asking for a normal office building but they also wanted a creative space,’ says Dirk Zweering, project partner on the project. ‘We had to think how to do this in this small city in the middle of nowhere that is also home to designers from all over the world.’ The solution was to reinvent the plan of the building, giving offices views and making the circulation space occupy a vast covered atrium. ‘We offered this kind of ring structure,’ Zweering explains, ‘so that every department can look out onto the surrounding area.’ Their idea was controversial. ‘The atrium was 5,000 sq m of space that wasn’t in the brief, but we persuaded them,’ Zweering says, adding that ‘it’s how our office works - we always look for an opportunity to add another element.’ Rather than create a standard corporate campus, the new building is given a dynamic twist by the ribbon-like bridges that criss-cross the mighty atrium, making direct connections between departments and drastically cutting down the time it takes to get around the building. Spanning distances of up to 50m, the characteristic zigzag forms of these slender walkways minimise walking but also had another, unexpected benefit. ‘When we finished, we realised that the bridges looked like laces, hence that’s the name of the building. Of course, Adidas liked this idea,’ saysZweering, adding that the laces also ‘tie’ the building together. The atrium’s spaciousness is enhanced by the roof, constructed from ETFE cushion panels ( as used in Herzog & de Meuron’s Allianz Arena ). Using standard 4m wide panels, with lengths varying between 35 and 50 m, the lightweight material is supported by a series of slender arches that span the whole space.

Kadawittfeldarchitektur

The interior facades looking into the atrium are all glass. « When you enter the atrium you don’t really read the façade », explains Zweering. « This is because we didn’t need vertical supports as there was no need for thermal glass, with it being an interior wall ». Meeting spaces and a cafeteria are scattered along this internal street on the ground floor, places where the 1700-strong workforce can relax and eat. The building is close to the company’s Brand Centre and the Adi Dassler Sports Ground, illustrating the extent to which the company dominates this small town. The offices themselves have been given the same intensive treatment as the building. Rather than rely on off-the-shelf kit, Adidas commissioned Kinzo, a small Berlin-based design firm, to create a set of bespoke office furniture for the complex. The brief didn’t stop at workstations, but had to extend to the very particular requirements of the Adidas design team. The result is ‘Workout’, a modular system that extends to storage for the company’s more uncommon objects like shoes and balls. Drawing on the aesthetic of the football pitch and athletics tracks, Kinzo has used netting, mesh and folded and perforated metal to create the various modules. The most function-intensive areas, including the model workshops, materials laboratories and Test Hall (with its specially calibrated running tracks) required very specific furnishings, including a library that allows Adidas’s designers to have easy access to different materials and products. Elsewhere, the offices are equipped with a specially developed workstation dubbed the ‘Teamplayer’ - a desk, shelving and storage system that picks up on the rigorous architecture and marks out each department without detracting from the flow of space. The Laces building is a corporate campus with heart, reminiscent of the grand schemes of forward-thinking 1960s multinationals, rather than the off-the-shelf timidity that has come to characterise so many contemporary HQs. Thanks to bold commissioning, inside and out, Laces has the modern office all sewn up. By Jonathan Bell

ARCHITECTURE

Clyfford Still Museum

Dedicated solely to the work of leading American abstract expressionist Clyfford Still (1904 - 1980), this new Denver museum was designed by Portlandbased Allied Works Architecture, headed up by director Brad Cloepfil. The famously private artist exhibited extremely infrequently in his lifetime and, after his death, his collection was sealed off from public view until now. ‘Our prior knowledge of Still was based on a small fraction of works that were in the public realm, a mere six percent of the artist’s creative output,’ says the Museum’s director Dean Sobel. The new Clyfford Still Museum proudly houses an impressive 94 % of the artist’s oeuvre, spanning his early works from the 1930’s to his abstract paintings of the 1960’s and 1970’s, created after he famously ended his relationship with commercial galleries in 1951. The museum holds a whopping 2,400 paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures donated by his wife Patricia Still.

Cloepfil designed the building as an intense and intimate environment for the visitor to experience Still’s work. « The building is conceived as a nearly geologic experience; one that firmly holds both visitor and art in spaces amplified by natural light », he says.

Visitors enter Still’s world in stages, walking from the street to the building, through a serene tree-filled landscaped garden.

Allied Works Denver

The building appears dense and sculptural, incorporating two storeys of ‘richly worked concrete’. It is, however, a light-filled haven, thanks to a partly perforated concrete ceiling, skylights and side openings.

The freshly opened museum’s first exhibition explores the artist’s early approach to abstraction and includes plenty of must-sees, such as works that have never been shown to the public before, as well as the only three sculptures by Still in existence.

By Ellie Stathaki

ARCHITECTURE

New ‘Laces’ Adidas HQ

Klaus Kada and based in Aachen. See more of Laces, Adidas new HQ in Herzogenaurach. Kadawittfeldarchitektur took issue with the official brief. ‘They were asking for a normal office building but they also wanted a creative space,’ says Dirk Zweering, project partner on the project. ‘We had to think how to do this in this small city in the middle of nowhere that is also home to designers from all over the world.’ The Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach is the sporting footwear capital of the world, thanks to the corporate presence of both Adidas and Puma. The two firms were founded by the Dassler brothers in the post-war era, following the break-up of their family company, and each continues to tread the same space in the marketplace, with distinctive, globally recognised brand identities. In need of a new HQ, Adidas turned to an architectural competition, seeking a new structure to add to the already healthy chunk of real estate. The winners were the German-Austrian practice of Kadawittfeldarchitektur, founded by Gerhard Wittfeld and

and drastically cutting down the time it takes to get around the building. Spanning distances of up to 50m, the characteristic zig-zag forms of these slender walkways minimise walking but also had another, unexpected benefit. ‘When we finished, we realised that the bridges looked like laces, hence that’s the name of the building. Of course, Adidas liked this idea,’ says Zweering, adding that the laces also ‘tie’ the building together. The atrium’s spaciousness is enhanced by the roof, constructed from ETFE cushion panels (as used in Herzog & de Meuron’s Allianz Arena). Using standard 4m wide panels, with lengths varying between 35 and 50m, the lightweight material is supported by a series of slender arches that span the whole space.

Kadawittfeld architektur

The offices themselves have been given the same intensive treatment as the building. Rather than rely on off-the-shelf kit, Adidas commissioned Kinzo, a small Berlinbased design firm, to create a set of bespoke office furniture for the complex. The brief didn’t stop at workstations, but had to extend to the very particular requirements of the Adidas design team. The result is ‘Workout’, a modular system that extends to storage for the company’s more uncommon objects like shoes and balls. Drawing on the aesthetic of the football pitch and athletics tracks, Kinzo has used netting, mesh and folded and perforated metal to create the various modules. The most function-intensive areas, including the model workshops, materials laboratories and Test Hall (with its specially calibrated running tracks) required very specific furnishings, including a library that allows Adidas’s designers to have easy access to different materials and products. Elsewhere, the offices are equipped with a specially

developed workstation dubbed the ‘Teamplayer’ - a desk, shelving and storage system that picks up on the rigorous architecture and marks out each department without detracting from the flow of space. The Laces building is a corporate campus with heart, reminiscent of the grand schemes of forward-thinking 1960s multinationals, rather than the off-the-shelf timidity that has come to characterise so many contemporary HQs. Thanks to bold commissioning, inside and out, Laces has the modern office all sewn up.

By Jonathan Bell

ARCHITECTURE

New ‘Laces’ Adidas HQ The Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach is the sporting footwear capital of the world, thanks to the corporate presence of both Adidas and Puma. The two firms were founded by the Dassler brothers in the post-war era, following the break-up of their family company, and each continues to tread the same space in the marketplace, with distinctive, globally recognised brand identities. In need of a new HQ, Adidas turned to an architectural competition, seeking a new structure to add to the already healthy chunk of real estate. The winners were the GermanAustrian practice of Kadawittfeldarchitektur, founded by Gerhard Wittfeld and Klaus Kada and based in Aachen. See more of Laces, Adidas’ new HQ in Herzogenaurach. Kadawittfeldarchitektur took issue with the official brief. ‘They were asking for a normal office building but they also wanted a creative space,’ says Dirk Zweering, project partner on the project. ‘We had to think how to do this in this small city in the middle of nowhere that is also home to designers from all over the world.’ The solution was to reinvent the plan of the building, giving offices views and making the circulation space occupy a vast covered atrium. ‘We offered this kind of ring structure,’ Zweering explains, ‘so that every department can look out onto the surrounding area.’ Their idea was controversial.

‘The atrium was 5,000 sq m of space that wasn’t in the brief, but we persuaded them,’ Zweering says, adding that ‘it’s how our office works - we always look for an opportunity to add another element.’ Rather than create a standard corporate campus, the new building is given a dynamic twist by the ribbon-like bridges that criss-cross the mighty atrium, making direct connections between departments and drastically cutting down the time it takes to get around the building. Spanning distances of up to 50m, the characteristic zig-zag forms of these slender walkways minimise walking but also had another, unexpected benefit. ‘When we finished, we realised that the bridges looked like laces, hence that’s the name of the building. Of course, Adidas liked this idea,’ says Zweering, adding that the laces also ‘tie’ the building together. The atrium’s spaciousness is enhanced by the roof, constructed from ETFE cushion panels (as used in Herzog & de Meuron’s Allianz Arena). Using standard 4m wide panels, with lengths varying between 35 and 50m, the lightweight material is supported by a series of slender arches that span the whole space.

by Kadawittfeldarchitektur The interior facades looking into the atrium are all glass. ‘When you enter the atrium you don’t really read the façade,’ explains Zweering. ‘This is because we didn’t need vertical supports as there was no need for thermal glass, with it being an interior wall.’ Meeting spaces and a cafeteria are scattered along this internal street on the ground floor, places where the 1700-strong workforce can relax and eat. The building is close to the company’s Brand Centre and the Adi Dassler Sports Ground, illustrating the extent to which the company dominates this small town. The offices themselves have been given the same intensive treatment as the building. Rather than rely on off-the-shelf kit, Adidas commissioned Kinzo, a small Berlin-based design firm, to create a set of bespoke office furniture for the complex. The brief didn’t stop at workstations, but had to extend to the very particular requirements of the Adidas design team. The result is ‘Workout’, a modular system that extends to storage for the company’s more uncommon objects like shoes and balls. Drawing on the aesthetic of the football pitch and athletics tracks, Kinzo has used netting, mesh and folded and perforated metal to create the various modules. The most function-intensive areas, including the model workshops, materials laboratories and Test Hall (with its specially

calibrated running tracks) required very specific furnishings, including a library that allows Adidas’s designers to have easy access to different materials and products. Elsewhere, the offices are equipped with a specially developed workstation dubbed the ‘Teamplayer’ - a desk, shelving and storage system that picks up on the rigorous architecture and marks out each department without detracting from the flow of space. The Laces building is a corporate campus with heart, reminiscent of the grand schemes of forward-thinking 1960s multinationals, rather than the off-the-shelf timidity that has come to characterise so many contemporary HQs. Thanks to bold commissioning, inside and out, Laces has the modern office all sewn up. By Jonathan Bell

ARCHITECTURE

New ‘Laces’ Adidas HQ

The Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach is the sporting footwear capital of the world, thanks to the corporate presence of both Adidas and Puma. The two firms were founded by the Dassler brothers in the post-war era, following the break-up of their family company, and each continues to tread the same space in the marketplace, with distinctive, globally recognised brand identities. In need of a new HQ, Adidas turned to an architectural competition, seeking a new structure to add to the already healthy chunk of real estate. The winners were the German-Austrian practice of Kadawittfeldarchitektur, founded by Gerhard Wittfeld and Klaus Kada and based in Aachen. See more of Laces, Adidas’ new HQ in Herzogenaurach. Kadawittfeldarchitektur took issue with the official brief. ‘They were asking for a normal office building but they also wanted a creative space,’ says Dirk Zweering, project partner on the project. ‘We had to think how to do this in this small city in the middle of nowhere that is also home to designers from all over the world.’ The solution was to reinvent the plan of the building, giving offices views and making the circulation space occupy a vast covered atrium. ‘We offered this kind of ring structure,’ Zweering explains, ‘so that every department can look out onto the surrounding area.’ Their idea was controversial. ‘The atrium was 5,000 sq m of space that wasn’t in the brief, but we persuaded them,’ Zweering says, adding that ‘it’s how our office works we always look for an opportunity to add another element.’ Rather than create a standard corporate campus, the new building is given a dynamic twist by the ribbon-like bridges that criss-cross the mighty atrium, making direct connections between departments and drastically cutting down the time it takes to get around the building. Spanning distances of up to 50m, the characteristic zig-zag forms of these slender walkways minimise walking but also had another, unexpected benefit. ‘When we finished, we realised that the bridges looked like laces, hence that’s the name of the building. Of course, Adidas liked this idea,’ says Zweering, adding that the laces also ‘tie’ the building together. The atrium’s spaciousness is enhanced by the roof, constructed from ETFE cushion panels (as used in Herzog & de Meuron’s Allianz Arena). Using standard 4m wide panels, with lengths varying between 35 and 50m, the lightweight material is supported by a series of slender arches that span the whole space.

Kadawittfeld architektur

The interior facades looking into the atrium are all glass. ‘When you enter the atrium you don’t really read the façade,’ explains Zweering. ‘This is because we didn’t need vertical supports as there was no need for thermal glass, with it being an interior wall.’ Meeting spaces and a cafeteria are scattered along this internal street on the ground floor, places where the 1700-strong workforce can relax and eat. The building is close to the company’s Brand Centre and the Adi Dassler Sports Ground, illustrating the extent to which the company dominates this small town. The offices themselves have been given the same intensive treatment as the building. Rather than rely on off-the-shelf kit, Adidas commissioned Kinzo, a small Berlin-based design firm, to create a set of bespoke office furniture for the complex. The brief didn’t stop at workstations, but had to extend to the very particular requirements of the Adidas design team. The result is ‘Workout’, a modular system that extends to storage for the company’s more uncommon objects like shoes and balls. Drawing on the aesthetic of the football pitch and athletics tracks, Kinzo has used netting, mesh and folded and perforated metal to create the various modules. The most function-intensive areas, including the model workshops, materials laboratories and Test Hall (with its specially calibrated running tracks) required very specific furnishings, including a library that allows Adidas’s designers to have easy access to different materials and products. Elsewhere, the offices are equipped with a specially developed workstation dubbed the ‘Teamplayer’ - a desk, shelving and storage system that picks up on the rigorous architecture and marks out each department without detracting from the flow of space. The Laces building is a corporate campus with heart, reminiscent of the grand schemes of forward-thinking 1960s multinationals, rather than the offthe-shelf timidity that has come to characterise so many contemporary HQs. Thanks to bold commissioning, inside and out, Laces has the modern office all sewn up. By Jonathan Bell

ARCHITECTURE

New ‘Laces’ Adidas HQ

The solution was to reinvent the plan of the building, giving offices views and making the circulation space occupy a vast covered atrium. ‘We offered this kind of ring structure,’ Zweering explains, ‘so that every department can look out onto the surrounding area.’ Their idea was controversial. ‘The atrium was 5,000 sq m of space that wasn’t in the brief, but we persuaded them,’ Zweering says, adding that ‘it’s how our office works - we always look for an opportunity to add another element. ‘Rather than create a standard corporate campus, the new building is given a dynamic twist by the ribbonlike bridges that criss-cross the mighty atrium, making direct connections between departments and drastically cutting down the time it takes to get around the building.’ Spanning distances of up to 50m, the characteristic zig-zag forms of these slender walkways minimise walking but also had another, unexpected benefit. ‘When we finished, we realised that the bridges looked like laces, hence that’s the name of the building. Of course, Adidas liked this idea,’ says

Zweering, adding that the laces also ‘tie’ the building together. The atrium’s spaciousness is enhanced by the roof, constructed from ETFE cushion panels ( as used in Herzog & de Meuron’s Allianz Arena ). Using standard 4m wide panels, with lengths varying between 35 and 50 m, the lightweight material is supported by a series of slender arches that span the whole space. The interior facades looking into the atrium are all glass. « When you enter the atrium you don’t really read the façade », explains Zweering.

Kadawittfeld architektur

shelf kit, Adidas commissioned Kinzo, a small Berlin-based design firm, to create a set of bespoke office furniture for the complex. The brief didn’t stop at workstations, but had to extend to the very particular requirements of the Adidas design team. The result is ‘Workout’, a modular system that extends to storage for the company’s more uncommon objects like shoes and balls.

‘ This is because we didn’t need vertical supports as there was no need for thermal glass, with it being an interior wall ». Meeting spaces and a cafeteria are scattered along. This internal street on the ground floor, places where the 1700-strong workforce can relax and eat. The building is close to the company’s Brand Centre and the Adi Dassler Sports Ground, illustrating the extent to which the company dominates this small town.

The offices themselves have been given the same intensive treatment as the building. Rather than rely on off-the-

Drawing on the aesthetic of the football pitch and athletics tracks, Kinzo has used netting, mesh and folded and perforated metal to create the various modules. The most functionintensive areas, including the model workshops, materials laboratories and Test Hall (with its specially calibrated running tracks) required very specific furnishings, including a library that allows Adidas’s designers to have easy access to different materials and products. Elsewhere, the offices are equipped with a specially developed workstation dubbed the ‘Teamplayer’ - a desk, shelving and storage system that picks up on the rigorous architecture and marks out each department without detracting from the flow of space.

The Laces building is a corporate campus with heart, reminiscent of the grand schemes of forward-thinking 1960s multinationals, rather than the off-the-shelf timidity that has come to characterise so many contemporary HQs. Thanks to bold commissioning, inside and out, Laces has the modern office all sewn up.

By Jonathan Bell

ARCHITECTURE

New ‘Laces’ Adidas HQ The Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach is the sporting footwear capital of the world, thanks to the corporate presence of both Adidas and Puma. The two firms were founded by the Dassler brothers in the post-war era, following the break-up of their family company, and each continues to tread the same space in the marketplace, with distinctive, globally recognised brand identities. In need of a new HQ, Adidas turned to an architectural competition, seeking a new structure to add to the already healthy chunk of real estate. The winners were the German-Austrian practice of Kadawittfeldarchitektur, founded by Gerhard Wittfeld and Klaus Kada and based in Aachen.  See more of Laces, Adidas’ new HQ in Herzogenaurach. Kadawittfeldarchitektur took issue with the official brief. ‘They were asking for a normal office building but they also wanted a creative space,’ says Dirk Zweering, project partner on the project. ‘We had to think how to do this in this small city in the middle of nowhere that is also home to designers from all over the world.’ The solution was to reinvent the plan of the building, giving offices views and making the circulation space occupy a vast covered atrium. ‘We offered this kind of ring structure,’ Zweering explains, ‘so that every department can look out onto the surrounding area.’ Their idea was controversial. ‘The atrium was 5,000 sq m of space that wasn’t in the brief, but we persuaded them,’ Zweering says, adding that ‘it’s how our office works - we always look for an opportunity to add another element.’

Rather than create a standard corporate campus, the new building is given a dynamic twist by the ribbon-like bridges that criss-cross the mighty atrium, making direct connections between departments and drastically cutting down the time it takes to get around the building. Spanning distances of up to 50m, the characteristic zig-zag forms of these slender walkways minimise walking but also had another, unexpected benefit. ‘When we finished, we realised that the bridges looked like laces, hence that’s the name of the building. Of course, Adidas liked this idea,’ says Zweering, adding that the laces also ‘tie’ the building together. The atrium’s spaciousness is enhanced by the roof, constructed from ETFE cushion panels (as used in Herzog & de Meuron’s Allianz Arena). Using standard

by Kadawittfeldarchitektur 4m wide panels, with lengths varying between 35 and 50m, the lightweight material is supported by a series of slender arches that span the whole space. The interior facades looking into the atrium are all glass. ‘When you enter the atrium you don’t really read the façade,’ explains Zweering. ‘This is because we didn’t need vertical supports as there was no need for thermal glass, with it being an interior wall.’ Meeting spaces and a cafeteria are scattered along this internal street on the ground floor, places where the 1700-strong workforce can relax and eat. The building is close to the company’s Brand Centre and the Adi Dassler Sports Ground, illustrating the extent to which the company dominates this small town. The offices themselves have been given the same intensive treatment as the building. Rather than rely on off-the-shelf kit, Adidas commissioned Kinzo, a small Berlin-based design firm, to create a set of bespoke office furniture for the complex. The brief didn’t stop at workstations, but had to extend to the very particular requirements of the Adidas design team. The result is ‘Workout’, a modular system that extends to storage for the company’s more uncommon objects like shoes and balls. Drawing on the aesthetic of the football pitch and athletics tracks, Kinzo has used netting, mesh and folded and perforated metal to create the various modules. The most function-intensive areas, including the model workshops, materials laboratories and Test Hall (with its specially calibrated running tracks) required very specific furnishings, including a library that allows Adidas’s designers to have easy access to different materials and products. Elsewhere, the offices are equipped with a specially developed workstation dubbed the ‘Teamplayer’ a desk, shelving and storage system that picks up on the rigorous architecture and marks out each department without detracting from the flow of space. The Laces building is a corporate campus with heart, reminiscent of the grand schemes of forward-thinking 1960s multinationals, rather than the off-the-shelf timidity that has come to characterise so many contemporary HQs. Thanks to bold commissioning, inside and out, Laces has the modern office all sewn up.

By Jonathan Bell

ARCHITECTURE

Clyfford Still Museum

The museum holds a whopping 2,400 paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures donated by his wife Patricia Still. Cloepfil designed the building as an intense and intimate environment for the visitor to experience Still’s work. « The building is conceived as a nearly geologic experience; one that firmly holds both visitor and art in spaces amplified by natural light », he says.

realm, a mere six percent of the artist’s creative output,’ says the Museum’s director Dean Sobel. The new Clyfford Still Museum proudly houses an impressive 94 % of the artist’s oeuvre, spanning his early works from the 1930’s to his abstract paintings of the 1960’s and 1970’s, created after he famously ended his relationship with commercial galleries in 1951.

Visitors enter Still’s world in stages, walking from the street to the building, through a serene tree-filled landscaped garden. «The sequence from city, to park, to uilding creates a ceremony of repose that prepares the visitor for a personal and very physical relationship with this incredibly important body of drawings and paintings », Cloepfil explains. The building appears dense and sculptural, incorporating two storeys of ‘richly worked concrete’. It is, however, a light-filled haven, thanks to a partly perforated concrete ceiling, skylights and side openings.

Allied Works Denver

The exposed concrete galleries are intimate and calm, yet spacious. Clyfford Still Museum includes no less than nine galleries, as well as a library, educational and archival resources, a conservation studio, and storage. The central double-height corridor also acts as an exhibition space, presenting information on the life of the artist. The freshly opened museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first exhibition explores the artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s early approach to abstraction and includes plenty of must-sees, such as works that have never been shown to the public before, as well as the only three sculptures by Still in existence. By Ellie Stathaki

ARCHITECTURE

New ‘Laces’ Adidas HQ

Kadawittfeldarchitektur took issue with the official brief. ‘They were asking for a normal office building but they also wanted a creative space,’ says Dirk Zweering, project partner on the project. ‘We had to think how to do this in this small city in the middle of nowhere that is also home to designers from all over the world.’ The solution was to reinvent the plan of the building, giving offices views and making the circulation space occupy a vast covered atrium. ‘We offered this kind of ring structure,’ Zweering explains, ‘so that every department can look out onto the surrounding area.’ Their idea was controversial. ‘The atrium was 5,000 sq m of space that wasn’t in the brief, but we persuaded them,’ Zweering says, adding that ‘it’s how our office works - we always look for an opportunity to add another element. ’Rather than create a standard corporate campus, the new building is given a dynamic twist by the ribbon-like bridges that criss-cross the mighty atrium, making direct connections between departments and drastically cutting down the time it takes to get around the building.

Spanning distances of up to 50m, the characteristic zig-zag forms of these slender walkways minimise walking but also had another, unexpected benefit. ‘When we finished, we realised that the bridges looked like laces, hence that’s the name of the building. Of course, Adidas liked this idea,’ says Zweering, adding that the laces also ‘tie’ the building together. The atrium’s spaciousness is enhanced by the roof, constructed from ETFE cushion panels ( as used in Herzog & de Meuron’s Allianz Arena ). Using standard 4m wide panels, with lengths varying between 35 and 50 m, the lightweight material is supported by a series of slender arches that span the whole space.

Kadawittfeld architektur

the-shelf kit, Adidas commissioned Kinzo, a small Berlin-based design firm, to create a set of bespoke office furniture for the complex. The brief didn’t stop at workstations, but had to extend to the very particular requirements of the Adidas design team. The result is ‘Workout’, a modular system that extends to storage for the company’s more uncommon objects like shoes and balls.

Drawing on the aesthetic of the football pitch and athletics tracks, Kinzo has used netting, mesh and folded and perforated metal to create the various modules. The most function intensive areas, including the model workshops, materials laboratories and Test Hall (with its specially calibrated running tracks) required very specific furnishings, including a library that allows Adidas’s designers to have easy access to different materials and products. Elsewhere, the offices are equipped with a specially developed workstation dubbed the ‘Teamplayer’ - a desk, shelving and storage system that picks up on the rigorous architecture and marks out each department without detracting from the flow of space.

The Laces building is a corporate campus with heart, reminiscent of the grand schemes of forward-thinking 1960’s multinationals, rather than the off-the-shelf timidity that has come to characterise so many contemporary HQs. Thanks to bold commissioning, inside and out, Laces has the modern office all sewn up.

By Jonathan Bell

ARCHITECTURE

Clyfford Still Museum

Dedicated solely to the work of leading American abstract expressionist Clyfford Still (1904 - 1980), this new Denver museum was designed by Portland-based Allied Works Architecture, headed up by director Brad Cloepfil. The famously private artist exhibited extremely infrequently in his lifetime and, after his death, his collection was sealed off from public view until now. ‘Our prior knowledge of Still was based on a small fraction of works that were in the public realm, a mere six percent of the artist’s creative output,’ says the Museum’s director Dean Sobel.

The new Clyfford Still Museum proudly houses an impressive 94 % of the artist’s oeuvre, spanning his early works from the 1930’s to his abstract paintings of the 1960’s and 1970’s, created after he famously ended his relationship with commercial galleries in 1951. The museum holds a whopping 2,400 paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures donated by his wife Patricia Still. Cloepfil designed the building as an intense and intimate environment for the visitor to experience Still’s work. « The building is conceived as a nearly geologic experience; one that firmly holds both visitor and art in spaces amplified by natural light », he says. Visitors enter Still’s world in stages, walking from the street to the building, through a serene tree-filled landscaped garden.

by Allied Works Denver

«The sequence from city, to park, to building creates a ceremony of repose that prepares the visitor for a personal and very physical relationship with this incredibly important body of drawings and paintings », Cloepfil explains. The building appears dense and sculptural, incorporating two storeys of ‘richly worked concrete’. It is, however, a light-filled haven, thanks to a partly perforated concrete ceiling, skylights and side openings. The exposed concrete galleries are intimate and calm, yet spacious. Clyfford Still Museum includes no less than nine galleries, as well as a library, educational and archival resources, a conservation studio, and storage. The central double-height corridor also acts as an exhibition space, presenting information on the life of the artist. The freshly opened museum’s first exhibition explores the artist’s early approach to abstraction and includes plenty of must-sees, such as works that have never been shown to the public before, as well as the only three sculptures by Still in existence.

By Ellie Stathaki

ARCHITECTURE

New ‘Laces’ Adidas HQ by Kadawittfeldarchitektur The Bavarian town of Herzogenaurach is the sporting footwear capital of the world, thanks to the corporate presence of both Adidas and Puma. The two firms were founded by the Dassler brothers in the post-war era, following the break-up of their family company, and each continues to tread the same space in the marketplace, with distinctive, globally recognised brand identities. In need of a new HQ, Adidas turned to an architectural competition, seeking a new structure to add to the already healthy chunk of real estate. The winners were the German-Austrian practice of Kadawittfeldarchitektur, founded by Gerhard Wittfeld and Klaus Kada and based in Aachen. See more of Laces, Adidas’ new HQ in Herzogenaurach. Kadawittfeldarchitektur took issue with the official brief. ‘They were asking for a normal office building but they also wanted a creative space,’ says Dirk Zweering, project partner on the project. ‘We had to think how to do this in this small city in the middle of nowhere that is also home to designers from all over the world.’ The solution was to reinvent the plan of the building, giving offices views and making the circulation space occupy a vast covered atrium. ‘We offered this kind of ring structure,’ Zweering explains, ‘so that every department can look out onto the surrounding area.’ Their idea was controversial. ‘The atrium was 5,000 sq m of space that wasn’t in the brief, but we persuaded them,’ Zweering says, adding that ‘it’s how our office works - we always look for an opportunity to add another element.’

The interior facades looking into the atrium are all glass. ‘When you enter the atrium you don’t really read the façade,’ explains Zweering. ‘This is because we didn’t need vertical supports as there was no need for thermal glass, with it being an interior wall.’ Meeting spaces and a cafeteria are scattered along this internal street on the ground floor, places where the 1700-strong workforce can relax and eat. The building is close to the company’s Brand Centre and the Adi Dassler Sports Ground, illustrating the extent to which the company dominates this small town.The offices themselves have been given the same intensive treatment as the building. Rather than rely on off-the-shelf kit, Adidas commissioned Kinzo, a small Berlin-based design firm, to create a set of bespoke office furniture for the complex. The brief didn’t stop at workstations, but had to extend to the very particular requirements of the Adidas design team. The result is ‘Workout’, a modular system that extends to storage for the company’s more uncommon objects like shoes and balls. Drawing on the aesthetic of the football pitch and athletics tracks, Kinzo has used netting, mesh and folded and perforated metal to create the various modules. The most function-intensive areas, including the model workshops, materials laboratories and Test Hall (with its specially calibrated running tracks) required very specific furnishings, including a library that allows Adidas’s designers to have easy access to different materials and products.

Elsewhere, the offices are equipped with a specially developed workstation dubbed the ‘Teamplayer’ - a desk, shelving and storage system that picks up on the rigorous architecture and marks out each department without detracting from the flow of space.

The Laces building is a corporate campus with heart, reminiscent of the grand schemes of forwardthinking 1960s multinationals, rather than the offthe-shelf timidity that has come to characterise so many contemporary HQs. Thanks to bold commissioning, inside and out, Laces has the modern office all sewn up.

By Jonathan Bell

Wallpapers S.A

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