photography ©Nike

The Nike NYC Garage is an exceptionally modern interpretation of the traditional parking structure. Offering 1900 parking spaces for Nike employees at the Portland Campus, the project was uniquely designed by SRG Partnership to give off New York vibes.

The architects describe, “Inspired by a culture of innovation, this building is a hub of transportation and a place where people become pedestrians, so the design concept is based on the idea of ‘movement,’ a key theme for the client’s products and design culture.”

photography ©Nike

Showcasing one of New York’s “greatest cultural exports,” as Nike describes, the building features seventeen graffiti murals by various international renowned artists. Todd Van Horne, VP and Creative Director of Nike Special Projects describes the building stating, “Art is often a great way to bring soul into a building…with these murals, we want to celebrate NYC’s sports culture- with street basketball and hip-hop culture as inspiration.”

photography ©Nike

The building, constructed by Hoffman Construction, features custom, vibrant Alucobond aluminum composite panels, fabricated by Canadian powerhouse Keith Panel Systems. The panels are featured at the stair towers, parking ramps and entrances, contrasting both the colorful murals and remaining grey portions of the main façade.

Showcasing Alucobond’s custom color process, the vivid orange presented by Nike was challenging to match. Bright colors are often difficult, requiring paint suppliers to use pigmentation in the coating, which has been proven to offer good chalk and fade resistance in order to produce a warrantable finish. The custom Nike orange required several formulation attempts to achieve the perfect match and meet the warranty specifications.

photography ©Nike

The 2,500 panels, covering 65,000 square feet were fabricated utilizing Keith Panel’s System A Plus Pressure Equalized Rainscreen Technology. The fabricators describe, “Perhaps the greatest challenge overcome on this project was the complex geometry of the stairs and ramps. Each stair tower required 250-300 unique panels, covering every surface with the exception of the stair thread. Initially, the fabrication was to be based on guaranteed dimensions, however, after a cursory check, it was clear that the structure was outside the required tolerance…each element had to be 3D modeled.”

The in-house engineers at Keith Panel Systems worked closely with the installers at McKinstry Portland to model the precise dimensions of the panels and achieve a seamless façade. The building showcases Nike’s core values of diversity, modernity and innovation, fostering community and NYC’s sports heritage.

photography courtesy of ©Nike