Halftime exterior adidas heaquarters by COBE Architects

© Rasmus Hjortshøj – COAST

The Danish architecture firm COBE completed in 2018 the new headquarters for the sports brand Adidas in Germany after winning the international architecture competition held by the brand in 2014.

Adidas “Halftime” Headquarters Technical Information

  • Architects1-2: COBE
  • Location: Herzogenaurach, Germany
  • Client: Adidas Pension Trust
  • Topics: Commercial, Office
  • Size: 15,500 square meter
  • Height: 7.80–10.50 meters
  • Project Year: 2018
  • Photographs: © Rasmus Hjortshøj – COAST

A key task was to create the right atmosphere to reflect the unique adidas culture. We did this, in part, by matching the different needs with different sports, making room for big ideas and large gestures as well as a touch of humor. In addition to the event hall, which is designed as a gym, you can hold meetings at the bottom of a bright blue swimming pool, in a locker room or in the adidas founder Adi Dasler’s old workshop, complete with tools.

– Dan Stubbergaard, Cobe founder

Adidas Headquarters  Photographs
Aerial view of the adidas headquarters by COBE Architects

© Rasmus Hjortshøj – COAST

Aerial view of adidas heaquarters by COBE Architects

© Rasmus Hjortshøj – COAST

adidas headquarters by COBE Architects

© Rasmus Hjortshøj – COAST

Adidas office interior

© Rasmus Hjortshøj – COAST

Adidas office interior

© Rasmus Hjortshøj – COAST

Interior view of the adidas headquarters by COBE Architects

© Rasmus Hjortshøj – COAST

Text by the Architects

The new building, named HALFTIME, was designed by COBE and totals 15,500 square meters. In addition to a canteen for all HQ employees, the building contains meeting rooms, a conference center, and a showroom where the company’s high-profile brand ambassadors can stop by to see
the latest new designs, collections, and ideas. The flexible and multi-functional architectural design makes it possible to transform and modify the building for varying purposes.

To accommodate the many internal and public functions that HALFTIME includes, we designed a versatile, multi-purpose building that brings as many of the company’s activities and functions as possible together under one roof. The huge rhomboid roof covers the entire building like a carpet, bringing staff, visitors and brand ambassadors together in the same building and thus enabling more and wider contacts”

– Dan Stubbergaard

The 8,650-square-meter rhomboid roof structure consists of V-shaped concrete beams and is covered in glass. In fact, a third of the roof consists of skylights, allowing daylight to flood the building throughout. The concrete beams, each 16 meters long and weighing 28 tons, add up to a total length of 3.2 kilometers.

Nature is invited in with the use of natural materials, planted walls, large floor-to-ceiling windows, a ceiling height of 8 meters, and conservatories with trees and plant beds throughout the building. This creates a strong connection between indoors and outdoors throughout the headquarters and offers Adidas staff and visitors an optimal work environment and indoor climate.

HALFTIME: Adidas Headquarters Image Gallery

Works from COBE 

  1. Competition team: COBE, CLMAP, Knippers Helbig, Transsolar, COBE Berlin
  2. Design and execution team: ARGE COBE & CLMAP (lead consultant), Knippers Helbig, Fact, Bartenbach, Soda, PMI, HMP

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