Nike HQ’s newest, largest structure: the Serena Williams Building

In Beaverton, Ore., the new Serena Williams Building, at just over 1 million square feet, is the largest structure at Nike World Headquarters. Designed by Portland-based Skylab Architecture, the building is a design-focused workplace for 2,750 occupants.

The structure comprises four parts: a 12-story tower with shared amenities for the campus, design studios, a merchandise center for prototype retail spaces, and an underground parking garage and loading dock. Each brand of the Nike business occupies its own level, with services stacked vertically between the levels. For the first time, Nike products can move from sketch to prototype to final design to retail fixture all under one roof.

Throughout, the design team emphasized the concept of flow to facilitate unexpected connections among designers and various parts of the business. Gathering spaces of varying sizes foster connection both indoors and outdoors. With glazing on two sides and skylights above, natural light floods the workspaces. Courtyards, gardens, plazas, and a sunken tennis court provide outdoor spaces for work, recreation, and relaxation. 

In its former life, the building site contained a parking lot and an access road to an adjacent building, all next to a wetland. To strengthen the connection with the natural landscape and minimize the visual presence of cars and trucks, the design team buried the access road and all parking and loading. The building’s green roof terraces overlook the wetland. 

A photovoltaic array screens rooftop mechanical units from view. Stormwater is collected and returned to the wetland. Energy-efficient mechanical systems include displacement ventilation and radiant sails. The building is LEED platinum certified.

On the Building Team:
Owner: Nike
Architecture and interior design: Skylab Architecture
Civil engineering: WHPacific 
Contractor: Hoffman Construction
Landscape design: Place Landscape
Mechanical/electrical/plumbing: PAE
Structural engineering: Thornton Tomasetti