Faster, Brighter, Higher...by the numbers with Büro Uebele

Almost 100 years after Adolph “Adi” Dassler and his brother Rudy started making sports shoes in their mother’s washroom, the Adidas founder might be surprised to see how his company’s offices have evolved. One of the latest projects at the Adidas’ center in Herzogenaurach (near Nuremberg, Germany) is a new gym featuring the super-scaled typographic stylings of Büro Uebele Visuelle Kommunikation (Stuttgart).

With a “faster, further, higher” approach aimed at pumping up the energy for Adidas employees, the walls of the gym are filled with huge numbers and letters up to 10 meters tall. More than just feel-good wallpaper, they mix and reinterpret expected colors from the sports world and numbers that tell key stories of German sports. A huge illuminated 54 on the ceiling represents Germany’s World Cup win in 1954, while the number 13 was lucky for beloved footballer Gerd Müller. At the risk of overdoing the sports analogies, the Buro Uebele team's mantra here was "Go big or go home."

ADIDAS GYM

Client: Adidas AG

Location: Herzogenaurach, Germany

Project Area: 3,878m2

Open Date: 2014

Design: Büro Uebele Visuelle Kommunikation

Design Team: Carolin Himmel (project manager), Andreas Uebele (designer, principal)

Architect: AGPS Architecture

Interior Design: ZieglerBürg, Büro für Gestaltung, Prof. Diane Ziegler

Photos: Brigida González

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