Herzogenaurach, June 10th, 2011 – Herbert Hainer, CEO of adidas AG, today opened the new company building Laces in the “World of Sports” at the adidas Group headquarters in Herzogenaurach, which will provide space for more than 1,700 employees. Among the approximately 300 invited guests were Horst Seehofer, Bavarian Minister President and chairman of the CSU, Franz Beckenbauer, honorary president of FC Bayern Munich, and NBA-Star Dwight Howard.
Company founder Adi Dassler started making his first sports shoes back in the 1920s, in the laundry of his parents' home in Herzogenaurach. Ever since, the now globally operating company, has been firmly committed to its roots and its home country. With the opening of the Laces building, the Group once again underlines its commitment to the location and sets another milestone in the company's history. Laces is one of the most important and largest construction projects the company has ever undertaken. From June 24th, 2011, employees from the Marketing and Operations departments will start moving into Laces. Among them are materials researchers, biomechanical experts, designers, engineers, product developers and marketing specialists who create, develop and market the products. The new company building will be the central hub of all processes. A biomechanical lab and a state-of-the-art test centre with a test hall the size of a triple sports hall will offer ideal test and research conditions.
“The opening of Laces is a special day for us. By bringing together all product-related processes under the same roof, we will significantly increase our innovation speed. Laces enables us to translate ideas into marketable products even faster and more effectively,” said Herbert Hainer, CEO of adidas AG.
Laces comprises seven levels and covers a total net floor area of more than 57,000m2 – this equals approximately the area of eight football pitches. The façade on the western side is 100m long and would be ideally suitable for athletic sprints. The building height is 30m, meaning that approximately ten basketball hoops on top of one other would fit into Laces.
Laces, with its dynamic dimensions and white contoured façade, complements the existing building ensemble of the World of Sports, between the Adi-Dassler-Sportplatz and the black and relatively flat adidas Brand Center building. At the centre of the building is the Atrium which functions as the communicative hub. It features an ETFE cushion roof surface which is similar to that of the Allianz Arena in Munich. In addition, the building design has been heavily influenced by the "laces" which give the building its name. The laces traverse the Atrium as open walkways, connecting the individual departments, facilitating an open working environment and also “tying” the building together to create a unique, highly communicative office building.
The architects from kadawittfeldarchitektur GmbH were responsible for the modern design of the building and were awarded with the Office Application Award for the most innovative concept in 2009.
The opening of Laces is another step in the incremental expansion of the Herzogenaurach location that initially started in the framework of an urban design master plan in 1999. It ensures the further optimisation and expansion of an attractive working environment for employees of the adidas Group.
The number of adidas employees working in Germany and Herzogenaurach has almost doubled in the past ten years. Currently, the adidas Group has 3,760 employees in Germany, with 3,000 of them working in Herzogenaurach. The adidas Group will this year again create around 100 new jobs.