Nike Shoe Dog Bridge

A harmony between nature and architecture, past and future, the Nike Shoe Dog Bridge traverses a federally protected wetlands and creek to connect the original Nike World Headquarters with a visionary campus expansion.

The bridge’s moniker is a tribute to Nike co-founder Phil Knight and references his autobiography, Shoe Dog. Its embracing canopy, while connecting the LAX parking garage and running trail to the south with the distinguished Serena Williams Building to the north, pays homage to historic covered wood bridges of Knight’s native southern Oregon. The canopy’s angular, contemporary form celebrates the cantilevered roof at the original Hayward Field at the University of Oregon (where Knight competed on the track team), while also evoking Japanese origami, a tribute to Nike’s origins as Blue Ribbon Sports, a distributor of Japan’s Onitsuka athletic shoes.

Standing on two concrete piers 120 feet apart, the 235-foot bridge was carefully sited to protect bird and wildlife habitat, minimizing disturbance to Cedar Mill Creek and the natural wetland’s ecosystem of trees, shrubs, native grasses and foliage, where beavers, ducks and critters find safe haven. Designed for longevity and with an economy of local materials, its steel under-bracing at the bridge’s approaches to its piers gives way to a heavy timber Douglas Fir bridge span with prefabricated concrete center deck, lined with vertical slatted-wood railings.