In August, Adidas inaugurated an office building on its “World of Sports” campus, but it is not your usual office block. As part of the MyArena programme, the architecture within this building — named “Pitch” — has been designed to be a kind of laboratory, where new forms of work organisation will be formulated. Three office-space specialists were given carte blanche to organise the floors, according to a set of specifications which mix new spatial, organisational and technological concepts. The employees from the Brand Management and Corporate Property & Services have been picked as the ‘guinea pigs’. In a year, the results of their experience will lead to an overall assessment and, most probably, to this model being extended to the majority of Adidas establishments in Germany and elsewhere. Planet Labor goes into detail with Michael Grosam, Director of Strategy and Planning, who is in charge of the project.
Attract creatives from all over the world – Increase creativity. The Adidas headquarters was set up at what is known as the “Herzo Base” in Herzogenaurach (northern Bavaria), at a former military base abandoned by the US army in 1992. Now, almost 5,850 people (out of a worldwide total of 53,000 employees) work in a complex covering 114 hectares, which combines futuristic buildings and old barracks converted into offices, and a landscape garden full of sports equipment. Last year, the CEO of Adidas, Herbert Hainer, announced his intention to keep on developing the company’s headquarters “in order to attract creatives from all over the world”.
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