Architects

COBE's striking 'concrete finned' scheme wins competition for Adidas' flagship building in Germany

Dec. 12, 2014

Danish firm COBE has been announced the winner in a contest to design a new Adidas flagship building in Herzogenaurach, Germany. It beat out 29 other teams, including REX and Zaha Hadid. 

The roof of COBE's diamond-shaped building will be made up of vertical concrete fins enclosed in glass. This transparent canopy will allow natural light into the building's interior, designboom reports.

Further bringing the outside in, most of the facility's curtain wall glass will open to the outdoors. In the winter, when these walls cannot be opened, employees and visitors will be able to visit small winter gardens throughout the headquarters. 

The winning design, called Meet & Eat, includes an employee restaurant, public conference center, and a showroom. 

In a statement, COBE Co-founder Dan Stubbegard said: "Adidas Meet & Eat merges with the landscape’s existing terrain, creating an open, green and welcoming building that gathers all members of the Adidas family—employees, sport stars, and visitors—as well as multiple functions and flows under one single roof. The iconic roof rests like a carpet covering the building, connecting all functions and creating a building flooded with light."

The project is slated for completion in 2018.

 

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