From the beginning, the vision for adidas Village was innovative: Create a “village” on an 11-acre urban site near downtown Portland, Oregon—a village that “reflects the character of the company and that will be part of the fabric of the community.” To achieve this vision, adidas-Salomon AG created facilities for its U.S. functions, as well as the North American headquarters for adidas America and Salomon North America. Global headquarters for the worldwide sporting goods company adidas-Salomon are located in Herzogenaurach, Germany.

Portland’s N. Greeley Ave. passes through adidas Village, with the east and west sides connected by a pedestrian skybridge. The West Village consists of three renovated buildings which once served as a medical center. The three newly constructed buildings of the East Village feature a landscaped public plaza with sports courts and a soccer field over a parking structure.

A visible accent on this innovation is the Alucobond Plus Material used as exterior panels. Approximately 60,000 sq. ft. of the 4mm material in seven custom colors is featured on the buildings, with rectangular panels oriented vertically and horizontally in a random pattern. Main colors are three shades of silver - grey metallic; other colors are blue, red, yellow, green, and black. The main colors and the blue were coil coated in a fluoropolymer finish, while the smaller amounts of other colors were post-painted with an acrylic urethane.

Keith Panel Systems of North Vancouver, Canada, was the system fabricator, and the material was attached with the KPS “A Series Rain Screen System.” Used on over 800 projects since 1986, the attachment system has an internal gutter that routes incidental water and condensation out at every horizontal joint. Material was installed by Streimer Sheet Metal of Portland, Oregon.

The panel system was required to accommodate a large amount of seismic movement. Because of the random pattern of joints, the seismic movement had to be accommodated in the vertical as well as horizontal joints. This was accomplished by using deeply slotted perimeter extrusions at vertical locations and sliding clips at the horizontal locations. There were no exposed wet sealants used for panel joints or panel-to-curtainwall joints.

BOORA Architects, Inc., Portland, was the architectural firm for the shell and core facilities; LRS Architects, Inc. led the interior design.

Eric Cugnart, BOORA Principal, designed the application of the exterior panels such that the three major shades of silver - grey appear to be random, while a single highlight color of red, yellow, green, or black on random panels distinguishes one building from another. The predominantly deep blue panels and expansive glass of the fitness center reveal a variation on this theme, through use of silver stripes—drawing attention to the building’s role, in contrast to that of the office buildings. Cugnart also took the metal look inside the fitness center, designing a unique sunshade system of tall aluminum louvers that swivel with fingertip control. The Alucobond Plus Material panels used on the exterior of both renovated and new buildings help maintain continuity of design.

Approximately 900 employees work at adidas Village, Yet, the village is reportedly one of the largest applications of public space in a corporate development. Open pathways in the park-like plaza enable walking to public transportation, while the sports courts are open to the public. In fact, input from a neighborhood association even helped shape plans for the village itself. Original plans were modified to move buildings away from the perimeter, leaving the plaza and the greenspace of a soccer field as a border to the neighbors.