SinewFlex

A Project by Jenny sabin studiO
Commissioned By nike inc.

As part of a major campus expansion at Nike headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, SinewFlex is sited in an interior atrium on the 4th floor of the new building dedicated to the number one ranked American professional tennis player, Serena Williams. Building upon ongoing work at the intersection of architecture, sport, textile design, fiber science, and biology, this responsive installation features novel formal expressions that adapt to changes in the environment through formfitting and high-performance lightweight structures. Mathematically generated and activated by the dynamics and behavior of digital knitting processes and light, SinewFlex is a two-story double canopy structure connected with a central bifurcated tubular form. Core attributes that embody Serena Williams including sport, movement, energy, lightweight, contemporary, unexpected, and amazing serve as primary design drivers and inspiration for the project. The inhabitable structure provides multiple points of engagement; through movement as one descends the stair; unexpected and transformational views from across the upper and lower floors; and moments of pause, gathering, productivity, and reflection at the base of the sculpture. Integrated with the building context, the project features knitted lightweight, high-performing, formfitting and responsive materials structured and held in tension within the perimeter of the atrium. Answering to the project brief and through its active structure and form-finding processes, SinewFlex is about movement and energy at the nexus of architecture and sport.

Client
Nike Inc.

Location
Serena Williams Building, Nike World Headquarters, Beaverton, OR

Design
2018-2020

Completed
2021

Project Area
26,000 ft3

Media
Knitted Photoluminescent Fibers, Powder Coat Steel Rings, Webbing and Rigging

Jenny Sabin Studio
Principal and Lead Architectural Designer: Jenny E. Sabin
Project Manager: Dillon Pranger
Design & Production: John Hilla, Camron Nelson, Byungchan Ahn, Michael Paraszczak

Consultants
Engineering Design: Clayton Binkley, Arup

Fabricators and Installers
Specialty Metal Fabricators

Knit Fabrication
Avatar Knits

Sewing and Finishing
Rainier Industries Ltd.

Photo Credits
Jenny Sabin Studio