{"id":187740,"date":"2021-09-08T11:09:50","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T15:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/?post_type=id_project&p=187740"},"modified":"2022-12-01T12:50:40","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T17:50:40","slug":"rapt-studio-employs-an-outdoorsy-tech-aesthetic-for-vf-corporations-headquarters-in-denver","status":"publish","type":"id_project","link":"https:\/\/interiordesign.net\/projects\/rapt-studio-employs-an-outdoorsy-tech-aesthetic-for-vf-corporations-headquarters-in-denver\/","title":{"rendered":"Rapt Studio Employs an Outdoorsy-tech Aesthetic for VF Corporation\u2019s Headquarters in Denver"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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September 8, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n

Words:\u00a0<\/span>Rebecca Dalzell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photography:\u00a0<\/span>Eric Laignel<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Rapt Studio Employs an Outdoorsy-tech Aesthetic for VF Corporation\u2019s Headquarters in Denver<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

VF Corporation has come a long way since its founding as a maker of gloves and lingerie. Once named Vanity Fair, the 120-year-old company has ditched the intimates line, built a\u00a0portfolio of 13 outdoor and apparel brands, and made it a mission to promote active, sustainable lifestyles. Most recently, VF re\u00adlocated executive headquarters from Greensboro, North Carolina, to Denver, where it shares a\u00a010-story downtown high-rise with five of its\u00a0previously dispersed brands: The North Face, JanSport, Altra, Icebreaker, and Smartwool. For this major strategic move, VF\u00a0called on a trusted partner, Rapt Studio, to\u00a0conceive a vertical campus that fosters intramural collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rapt has worked with VF since 2000, creating offices first for The North Face in San Leandro, California, and then for several other labels. That history was important for the Denver project because it required \u201cempathy for each of the brands,\u201d says Rapt CEO and chief creative officer David Galullo, who led the project with design director Mike Dubitsky. Sharing a roof with the parent company \u201cwas like a teenager being asked to move back home. We could stand strong and say, This is how the brand needs to identify itself.\u201d Rapt\u2019s challenge was to design a workplace that reflected the ethos of VF as well as the character of its subsidiaries, which make everything from ergonomic footwear (Altra) and merino socks (Smartwool) to\u00a0backpacks (JanSport)\u00a0and outdoor gear (The North Face).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the JanSport office, printed vinyl wallcovering depicts brand marketing images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Taking on the project in 2018, Rapt began with spatial organization, making stacking diagrams and considering how employees would move through the 285,000-square-foot building. The team researched the work habits of different departments and what they needed to be productive, like material libraries for product designers. \u201cOur discovery dives deep into the personality of groups and how they fit into the purpose of an organization,\u201d Galullo explains. \u201cWe focus on how a company supports its workforce.\u201d He believes that strategy made Rapt\u2019s concept for VF resilient when the pandemic hit during the construction phase. So far, layouts are unchanged; desks were always well-spaced. Though most of the 1,200 employees at VF Denver are still remote, the 300 or so who have trickled in this summer have ample room for social distancing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Interactive
Interactive LED floor panels on the lobby stair landing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"JanSport
JanSport brand images printed on vinyl.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Reclaimed
Reclaimed sailcloth pendant fixtures in The North Face office. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Rich Brilliant Willing\u2019s Mori sconces, a Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec table, and Piergiorgio Cazzaniga chairs in a pantry.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Merino
Merino technology displayed on the Smartwool floor. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A break-out area\u2019s felt paneling and wool-nylon banquettes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Each brand has its own office, lounge, and tinker zone. On floors four to seven, The North Face has the largest footprint, with a communicating stair and maker spaces at each landing; Smartwool occupies the eighth floor and the other companies share the third. \u201cWe worked with each group to develop ways to express their brand that go farther than this month\u2019s advertisement,\u201d Dubitsky remarks. On the Smartwool floor, for example, a local crafts collaborative installed woven yarn pieces on colorful vinyl-covered walls, while The North Face\u2019s corridors are lined with framed drawings of its sponsored athletes (climber Ashima Shiraishi, runner Coree Woltering).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All employees share the double-height lobby and fitness center on the ground floor, a coffee bar on level two, a pair of lounges, and a caf\u00e9 with terrace on the fourth. \u201cOur big push was to develop spaces where people from different brands would come together and share best practices,\u201d Galullo says. For the common areas, he and Dubitsky used earthy materials and interactive graphics to channel the company-wide focus on technology and the outdoors. Entering the lobby, staff and visitors encounter a 12-by-20-foot screen displaying nature photography or abstract imagery, boulders serving as benches, and a rammed-earth wall that looks like sedimentary rock. Whether you work for Altra or JanSport, \u201cYou feel you belong there,\u201d Galullo observes. \u201cThe lobby isn\u2019t heavily identified with one brand, but it\u2019s in sync with all of them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sealed
Sealed concrete flooring runs be\u00adneath a tent by The North Face in one of the brand\u2019s work areas called the tinker zone. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Beyond is the fitness center, designed with input from professional rock climber Conrad Anker. It not only has a 26-foot-high climbing wall but also an alpine training center where employees can exercise with oxygen depletion. \u201cA lot of people who work there are avid climbers, so we made sure there wasn\u2019t just some dopey corporate gym,\u201d Galullo continues. Prospective employees get a close-up view of this company culture: The second-floor interview rooms face the climbing wall. \u201cYou could be interviewing for a job while someone is climbing 15 feet away,\u201d Dubitsky notes. \u201cIt presents a notion of purpose around the company, that it\u2019s a lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The head\u00adquarters occupies a 10-story building completed in 2002 by Klipp Colussy Jenks DuBois Architects. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Naughtone\u2019s Always Lounge chairs and Stylex\u2019s Yoom sofa provide additional lobby seating. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Ladies Fancywork Society\u2019s installation at Smartwool. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The mountaineering theme continues throughout the building. In the elevator, video panels depict scenes from different altitudinal zones as it ascends, from grasslands below to snow at the top. Finishes and materials in the lounges subtly correspond in green, brown, or gray tones; in the ninth-floor leadership office, white-ash flooring and white-oak benches evoke the frosty nival zone. GPS coordinates on painted-steel wayfinding pillars similarly make trekkers feel at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"An
An interview room with a Jephson Robb table and Naoto Fukasawa chairs overlooks the climbing wall. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Knit strands by Ladies Fancywork Society form a Smartwool passageway.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Stone-look porcelain on the treads and risers connecting The North Face\u2019s four floors.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Most VF employees will work from home at least until October, and the company expects a mix of in-person and remote going forward. But the office will be vital to its future. As VF chairman, president, and CEO Steve Rendle states, \u201cPeople are wired to connect with each other, with nature, and with a sense of purpose, and Rapt designed this space to capture that spirit.\u201d After all, there are certain things you can\u2019t do over Zoom\u2014rock climb with colleagues among them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n