The FINANCIAL — The adidas Group on July 13 officially laid the foundation stone for two new employee buildings at its headquarters in Herzogenaurach.
`Campus Expansion South´ is a further key prerequisite for the company’s continuing growth and includes a new office building for more than 2,000 employees as well as an events building with integrated employee restaurant. In addition, another multi-storey car park will be built. Although the project is not scheduled for completion until the end of 2018, the guests at the foundation stone laying ceremony were able to visually experience the planned buildings by means of 3-D glasses.
“Today, we have not only laid the foundation stone for two new buildings but also for the long-term success of the adidas Group. Our employees are at the very heart of this company and our clear goal for the World of Sports is to create the most attractive workplaces in order to continue to attract top talents from all over the world to Herzogenaurach.” HERBERT HAINER, CEO OF THE ADIDAS GROUP.
The names of the two buildings were selected from name ideas submitted by the Group’s employees, according to adidas.
‘Arena’, the new 50,000m² office building, will also form the future main entrance to the ‘World of Sports’. With its openness and lightness, it conveys extremely well the dynamism of sport. The entrance is designed like a players’ tunnel, creating a stadium atmosphere. There is a locker area on the ground floor, with direct access out to the running track.
The building designed by Behnisch Architekten includes many ‘random’ meeting places providing opportunities for spontaneous exchanges. This open workplace concept has already been extensively tested and fosters both collaboration and creativity.
“The new office building offers our employees the ideal working environment to unlock their full creative potential, work together and exchange ideas.” KAREN PARKIN, CHIEF HR OFFICER OF THE ADIDAS GROUP.
The events building ‘HalfTime’ covering 14,000m² was designed by the Danish architects COBE. It combines an event and restaurant area and forms a connection between the new south campus and the old north campus. Flooded with light and open to all sides, the building visualises that there are no boundaries for the adidas Group to the outside except the boundaries it sets itself. The ‘countryside pavilion’ has capacity for 5,000 people.
Both new buildings will nestle in the park-like landscape of the campus. The outdoor areas in the south campus will be redesigned by the architects LOLA. The buildings will be connected by different-coloured paths, so-called ‘stars’, which can also be used as places for meetings and sports activities. In the ‘star’ connecting the south campus with the north campus there will be seating facilities, a multi-functional sports field and other sports offers. A large lake will be incorporated at the new main entrance, serving not only as a design element and natural boundary but also providing the entire cooling for ‘HalfTime’ by means of an innovative and sustainable concept.
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