Team Vitality, a French eSports organization, has recently opened its new HKS-designed Paris headquarters. The goal of the team’s new physical space is to make the brand appealing to a wider audience beyond eSports fans.
The design combines technology, retail, fashion, food and beverage elements to create a space that more closely resembles a neighborhood hangout rather than a competitive gaming facility. The four-story facility is housed in a traditional Haussmannian building near Place de la République and includes private office space and technology-packed rooms for content production and projection.
The ground floor acts as a public storefront and uses large LED video boards that face the street to project content to passersby. A central, flexible event space is flanked by entrances through the Vitality shop and a cafe. The Vitality store has a boutique aesthetic while the cafe is designed with wood and warm finishes, forgoing typical eSports merch stands or food and beverage locations.
The venue, known as V.Hive, can accommodate everything from educational experiences, to live music, to product launches by the team’s sponsors and partners. It is flexible enough to change quickly throughout the day. The ground floor is tied together by a “digital ribbon,” a series of LED video boards that flows from one space to the next, that acts as a canvas from content from Team Vitality and its partners.
See Also: Gamers paradise: The rise of eSports arenas
Audio and lighting can be varied from room to room and a central control room allows the team to orchestrate how digital content appears on the LED boards throughout the building.
“We wanted to create a physical venue for Team Vitality that is truly flexible for all their user groups: Vitality staff, players, fans and partners to gather publicly and privately in a space that would elevate the brand,” said Chi Bhatia, the Senior HKS Designer on the project in the firm’s London sports and entertainment studio, in a release. “This is one of the first true expressions of an eSports brand evolving into a lifestyle brand, via physical infrastructural investment for consumer-facing environments. We are still learning a lot in the space and wanted to challenge the notion of what truly is an ‘eSports venue.’”
See Also: The largest eSports stadium in North America opens in Arlington, Texas
Related Stories
| Sep 13, 2010
Stadium Scores Big with Cowboys' Fans
Jerry Jones, controversial billionaire owner of the Dallas Cowboys, wanted the team's new stadium in Arlington, Texas, to really amp up the fan experience. The organization spent $1.2 billion building a massive three-million-sf arena that seats 80,000 (with room for another 20,000) and has more than 300 private suites, some at field level-a first for an NFL stadium.
| Aug 11, 2010
JE Dunn, Balfour Beatty among country's biggest institutional building contractors, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 50 Institutional Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Jacobs, Arup, AECOM top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 75 largest international design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 International Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Architecture Billings Index flat in May, according to AIA
After a slight decline in April, the Architecture Billings Index was up a tenth of a point to 42.9 in May. As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lag time between architecture billings and construction spending. Any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings.
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction employment declined in 333 of 352 metro areas in June
Construction employment declined in all but 19 communities nationwide this June as compared to June-2008, according to a new analysis of metropolitan-area employment data released today by the Associated General Contractors of America. The analysis shows that few places in America have been spared the widespread downturn in construction employment over the past year.
| Aug 11, 2010
Jacobs, Hensel Phelps among the nation's 50 largest design-build contractors
A ranking of the Top 50 Design-Build Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Bowdoin College has country's first newly constructed LEED-certified ice arena
Bowdoin College's new Sidney J. Watson Arena, dedicated January 18, 2009, has become the first newly constructed ice arena in the United States to earn coveted LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).
| Aug 11, 2010
Gilbane, Manhattan Construction top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 50 largest K-12 school contractors
A ranking of the Top 50 K-12 School Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Arup, SOM top BD+C's ranking of the country's largest mixed-use design firms
A ranking of the Top 75 Mixed-Use Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
| Aug 11, 2010
Structure Tone, Turner among the nation's busiest reconstruction contractors, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report
A ranking of the Top 75 Reconstruction Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants