Project: VF Denver Office
Architecture: Rapt Studio
Location: Denver, Colorado, United States
Area: 285000 ft2
Year: 2020
Photo credits: Eric Laignel
VF Corporation is a diverse collection of global lifestyle brands driven by a strong common purpose — to power active and sustainable lifestyles for the betterment of people and the planet.
In a move to create a new multi-brand hub in Denver, Colorado, VF engaged Rapt Studio to design a space furthering their shared purpose. The project, housing the VF executive and strategic functions as well as brands that include The North Face, Smartwool, Jansport, Altra, and Icebreaker, has received LEED Platinum certification, setting the stage for the next chapter in the company’s 120-year history.
Rapt built upon the solid foundation of VF’s strong company culture to design a space that will invite new levels of collaboration and cross-pollination between brands as they grow their international reach, all while allowing each one to maintain its freedom of brand expression.
The ground-floor lobby opens up to the public and invites visitors to experience VF up close. It boasts a rammed-earth double-height backdrop and boulders from a local quarry set in the floor. A monumental stair offers varied views of the space and its two-level digital screen, while interactive digital displays covering the floor respond to pressure and touch. With your feet, you can sweep aside leaves in autumn or walk through puddles in winter. Adjacent and also visible from the street is the gym designed to prepare employees for the outdoor activities that fuel them. It includes a bouldering wall, a two-story climbing wall, and an oxygen deprivation chamber that trains them for high-altitude climbs.
Throughout the building, central staircases link separate floors and act as the structural and energetic spine of the space.
Beginning on the ground floor and ending at the tenth, vertical circulation parallels the journey from lush, lowlaying foothills to a dry mountain summit. Deep greens, browns, and yellows punctuate the lower levels, becoming white, black and metallic greys as you move up toward the top floors. Fixtures, finishes, and textures were chosen to reflect the ascent between altitude zones, pulling from nature’s color palette with honest, weathered materials like stone, wood, and rock.
As employees make their way upward, they land on their level to find a pantry built out around each opening for chatting and making coffee with colleagues. Moving outward from the core traffic ring, they plug into neighborhoods designed for privacy and focus. Workspaces there support the unique product development needs of each brand, integrating storage, displays, and surface areas for spreading out. Huddle booths and enclosed retreat rooms for discussing ideas sit near adjustable pin-up boards, whiteboards, and standing-height work tables that support active iteration.
There are endless places to tinker and collaborate.
Bringing these brands together under one roof signals VF’s deepening commitment to active collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and community-building. The new VF Denver Office will support the adventure-seeking workforce who lives the VF brand from the inside out, giving them the tools to courageously push the global corporation forward.
“People are inherently wired to connect — with each other, with nature, with a sense of purpose — and this space was superbly designed by Rapt to capture and inspire this same spirit,” says VF Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Rendle.
