Nike provided a glimpse of the LeBron James Innovation Center designed by Olson Kundig in Beaverton, Oregon. The 750,000-square-foot facility will open this week. The global sports brand will be used as a research, prototyping and testing base for data analysis and products.
The building will house 700 employees dedicated to material and product innovation. Outside, a 500-foot-long 15% inclined ramp folds down to the entrance plaza below the majestic cantilever of the building. In addition to the most advanced sports research laboratory inside, there is also a restaurant named after LeBron’s mother, Gloria Mary James, with murals depicting the highlights of the sports star’s career.
The center’s cantilevered top floor houses the Nike Sports Research Laboratory, which covers an area of 84,000 square feet and has the world’s largest motion capture device with 400 cameras. The laboratory also has a full-size NBA basketball court, a 200-meter fatigue track, a 100-meter double-sided track and a one-third the size of a regular football field.
The laboratory is equipped with 825 test equipment and four environmental chambers, so that the team can understand the body movement and performance in various climatic scenarios.
"The Nike Sports Research Laboratory is the center of our collaboration with athletes of all abilities, backgrounds, skills, and all sports," said Matthew Nurse, vice president of the Nike Discovery Team Sports Research Laboratory. "Athletes can move at full speed, at full speed-they can compete."
Although a series of machinery and equipment required for sports research laboratories usually need to be located on the first floor, the design team sought a solution to lift the research-intensive facilities off the ground to create a more attractive environment below. The result is that the upper floor has a unique waffle iron pattern structure; a function of reducing weight, forming a unique element of the building's cantilevered entrance plaza, and also a tribute to the establishment of the company.
The building also incorporates a series of sustainable design considerations. The complex is designed to use 100% renewable energy, with 908 solar panels on the roof, and water-saving plumbing installations that can reduce water consumption by 40%. The floor of the Sports Research Laboratory used more than 21,000 pounds of Nike Grind, a floor solution made of 75% recycled rubber.
Why did Nike put this building under 8 transmission lines?
The transmission line roughly divides Nike's campus into two. I was a little surprised that they didn't pay to make the line move, they threw the money there.
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