Not Your Average Bird's Nest

As I’ve mentioned before, Wieden & Kennedy works around a philosophy that is anything but normal. So why should their offices be any different? In future posts I’ll discuss and display many of the oddities featured in Wieden & Kennedy’s Portland headquarters, but this one particular project deserves attention all its own.

During 2005, the agency set out to create a one-of-a-kind office that would serve as a meeting space for creative minds, or a ‘creative incubator,’ as they see it. To do this, they partnered with self-described 'Stickwork' artist Patrick Dougherty to design an office creatively unparalleled by any other. The result is a larger-than-life sculpture that Dougherty named ‘Out in the Sticks’, which has been dubbed ‘The Nest’ by employees. Wieden commented on his hopes for the project by saying, “Creativity is not a completely logical act. Sometimes the idea comes to you when you stop thinking about it, when you’re involved in some other routine or sense of play. I suspect by its very nature the Nest can be a place where things are born and hatched.” Below are some of the conceptual sketches that led to the eventual masterpiece…

The office hangs five stories over the center of the agency’s six story atrium, and is only accessible by a few catwalks. Walls of the room were constructed entirely from wood branches that have been twisted and sculpted into form, an art that Dougherty has made a career of. Even the doorways are merely a hole in what could likely house a pterodactyl or two. Check out the view from outside…

Once the exterior structure was complete, Wieden & Kennedy turned to Intelligent Design and JA Felt to help conceive and design a naturalistic seating element within the room. Freeform couches we’re first carved from high density foam, which were then covered with felt to mirror gently rolling flatbed rock. To go along with that, felt tiles line the office’s floor, and it has been finished with custom hand blown light fixtures and mid-century modern pieces. If the view from outside isn’t enough to strike your fancy, take a look inside and see just how naturally authentic the room appears to be…

‘The Nest’ was completed during January of 2006, and has since been featured in the August 2007 issue of Interior Design Magazine. What makes it even more special is the fact that the agency headquarters is a tall, naturally lit, hard-lined concrete and wood building. Wieden displayed his delight in the finished product by stating, “The building is such a geometric form, and scale is such an enormous part of its beauty, that having something really small, organic, and uncontrolled seems to partner up well with the weird personalities we have here.” It’s truly a nest you wouldn’t want to fly too far away from.

Dellinger, G. (2007). Wieden & Kennedy's Nest Project. In Genevieve Dellinger. Retrieved March 7, 2011, from <http://genevievedellinger.com/index.php?/first/wiedenkennedy-nest-project/>

Libby, B. (2006, May 15). Feathering the Office. In MetropolisMag.com. Retrieved March 9, 2011, from <http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20060515/feathering-the-office>