OAKLEY HEADQUARTERS
What does a headquarters for a remote workforce look like?
The rapidly changing landscape of the world’s workforce from in-person to at home and virtual work settings due to the novel COVID-19 pandemic and increased globalization have made contracted and remote labor a more desirable and even necessary option for many companies. With no end in sight to remote working, what will be the role of communal offices and headquarters in the grand scheme of the workforce? This project aims to design a workplace of the future, that defines new purposes for office workplaces.
Architecture, Interiors, Landscape Architecture, Study
Type
Oakley
Client
Hood River, Oregon
Location
20,000 SF
Size
2020
Completed
Sebastian Guivernau
Collaborators
Haves and Have Nots
Hood River is a historic trading town on the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon, an hour east of Portland. The city has seen a gradual growth in the past two decades with the discovery of key assets of the town that make it not only a prime outdoor location but also incubating grounds for tech startups: the strong wind along the gorge, and its proximity to Mt. Hood. The US Military and other tech startups have been migrating to Hood River to pilot new drone technologies in the strong winds. With such close proximity to one of the top snow sport resorts in the country and to the Gorge, Hood River also experiences drastic seasonal population changes with people of up to 12,000 outdoor enthusiasts, migrating to the town in the Winter and Summer for snowsports, or wind surfing and other maritime sports.
Context
The Oakley Headquarters is sited on the location, and based on the existing structure, of the existing abandoned warehouse at the Hood River waterfront.
Warehouse 'Renovation'
Community Headquarters
Company headquarters are synonymous with keeping out pedestrians and visitors–confidential, insular, office blocks. The Oakley headquarters at Hood River will aim to attract visitors rather than repel them, to create a community space and Oakley workspace simultaneously.
Flowing Circulation
The Oakley headquarters will incorporate the company’s ellipsical logo to inform its circulation flows, inside, outside, and through the building. Paths on the site will tie into the existing infrastructure to guide pedestrians from the heart of the warehouse district to its tip by the water.
Aerodynamicity
Oakley optics aim to be aerodynamic such as not to impede an athlete’s speed or motion. Winds along the Gorge at Hood River can reach up to 15 MPH. The Oakley headquarters will aim to embody its products’ aerodynamicity, and will even harness the wind to ventilate the facility.
Beacon Architecture
The Oakley headquarters will act as a beacon to passersby across the Gorge, outdoor enthusiasts across the country to demo new Oakley products, and Oakley employees around the world. The headquarters will also respect its surrounding warehouse context through adaptive reuse strategies.
The Oakley headquarters campus design is guided by five precepts/principles.
Warehouse
The new design needs to respect and preserve the warehouse, a piece of Hood River history, and an appropriate setting for product development.
Grids
Oakley forms superimposed over the site inform the site and building architecture–elliptical guides.
New v Old
The building should use clear juxtaposition to celebrate both the new and the old.
Public v Private
In order to create a HQ accessible to the masses, public functions must bisect private so as to give visitors a glimpse of the HQ’s inner workings (ground floor organization).
Lenses/"Views"
The architecture should reference Oakley’s origins in high-performance optics.
Walkway (Exterior)
Cafe
Lobby
Product Display
Bike Room
Restroom
Locker Room
Prototyping Workshop
Materials/Textiles
Fabrication (CNC/Laser/3DP)
Oakley “Cut” Gallery
Product Demo Space
Wind Tunnel
HVAC
Mechanical
Warehouse
Kitchenette
Open Office
Meeting Pods
Private Offices
Conference
Multimedia Studio
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Portway Ave
Staff Parking/Loading-Dock
Visitor Parking
Pick-Up/Drop-Off
Bioswale/Landscape Feature
Landscaped Park
Hood River Waterfront Park
Public Restrooms
Oakley Dock
Bike Pump Track/Jumps
Beach Access
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Seamless Frame
The primary structure of the office pods is cast in place concrete cross-bracing, drawing inspiration from the seamlessly transitioning frame of Oakley glasses.
Vented Voronoi Waffle Slab
The first floor and roof are comprised of parametric waffle slabs that emulate the vents in Oakley glasses. Waffle holes optimize the weight of the slab while leaving space for the concrete cross brace to transition into the ceiling for a more efficient structural whole. The office space is ventilated from a plenum floor with vents at the perimeter.
Curved Self-Polarizing Glass
The HQ’s glazed surfaces behave like Oakley sunglass lenses, creating comfortable viewing for the users inside while reflecting a mesmerizing spectrum of color for onlookers. By visiting the HQ one gains the experience of wearing Oakleys.
Optics As Architecture
Optics As Architecture
Seamless Frame
The primary structure of the office pods is cast in place concrete cross-bracing, drawing inspiration from the seamlessly transitioning frame of Oakley glasses.
Vented Voronoi Waffle Slab
The first floor and roof are comprised of parametric waffle slabs that emulate the vents in Oakley glasses. Waffle holes optimize the weight of the slab while leaving space for the concrete cross brace to transition into the ceiling for a more efficient structural whole. The office space is ventilated from a plenum floor with vents at the perimeter.
Curved Self-Polarizing Glass
The HQ’s glazed surfaces behave like Oakley sunglass lenses, creating comfortable viewing for the users inside while reflecting a mesmerizing spectrum of color for onlookers. By visiting the HQ one gains the experience of wearing Oakleys.
Architecture That Breathes
Centrally distributed HVAC
Warehouse vents in drop ceiling
Warehouse exhaust passively drawn out through roof ventilators
Office air distributed through plenum floor vents along perimeter of open office
Wind and sunlight draw exhaust passively through automatically operated solar chimneys
Kinetic double skinned facade with sensors detects excess heat and opens up to vent window cavity
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Vented-Double Skinned Facade
A. traditional double-skinned facade would require excessive heating in cold winter months. The air pressure sensing vented double-skinned facade module projects its outer skin to vent the air cavity in warmer months, and closes it off in winter months.
Solar Chimney
Solar chimneys are offset from the perimeter of each of the office pods, located in the voronoi ceiling waffle holes above work stations. Solar chimneys automatically moderate the air pressure and temperature in the office spaces, opening when air is warmer than desired. Air distributed through floor vents is drawn out more rapidly when the solar chimneys are activated by direct exposure to daylight, and drawn out more slowly through stack-ventilation when not day lit.
