Adventure - a word that has captivated mankind since the beginning of history. What does it mean to be adventurous in the modern world that is overstimulated by aggressive marketing, innovations, products, or fast-changing trends? How can a sportswear company realign its mission, products, and workspace to the contemporary standard?
Nested in the cliffs of the Grand Canyons, Cliff and Climb Corporation’s new headquarter offices are suspended and cantilevered off the face of the cliffs. The site was chosen with the goal of bringing employees closer to their mission and products. This new headquarter captures the founder’s appetite for challenge and innovation and his motto of making climbing more sustainable and accessible to enthusiasts.
The newly imagined HQ comprises modules suspended on the cliffside, imitating the precarious alternating climbing holds while causing minimum disturbance to the rock faces. The leveled built forms express the weightlessness of hanging as they are embedded amongst the rocky and treacherous vertical landscape. This unconventional typological approach is to accentuate the sense of workspace that promotes active hiking.
The main entrance is located at the top of the cliff to encourage employees to trek up to their offices and put themselves in the customers' shoes. The entrance is a fully glazed elevator that takes employees and visitors down to modules suspended below.
These seemingly weightless structures are pinned to the cliff face by a minimal hinge connection and lifted with suspension cables. This structure leverages the tensile strength of structural steel to maximize structure with minimum material. The module’s floor construction utilizes steel beams with glulam joists assembly that is capped with a large aluminum frame finished with prefabricated panels.