Today, Nike officially announced the creation of a new center for sports research and innovation. The new complex is the latest addition to the Nike Sports Research Lab. The NSRL is located at their sprawling campus headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, and promises to be a premier facility for the continued perfection of athletes. Therefore, it needs a proper name: The Lebron James Innovation Center.
Fit for Lebron
“I’m definitely honored to be one of the Nike athletes to have a building represent their name,” Lebron James said. “The inside of it and the outside of it, the architecture of it, the story behind it, everything that goes on inside this building is unbelievable. Over the course of my career and my time here at Nike, for all of this to come together is surreal.”
The NSRL first opened up in 1980 on the other side of the country. The first iteration of the NSRL made massive strides in the understanding of biomechanics and athletics performance in Exeter, New Hampshire. The new NSRL center is looking to capitalize on the earlier success and make new discoveries. They certainly have the space to do it.
The Lebron James Innovation Center covers a whopping 750,000 square feet. Included is everything premier athletes and researchers alike may need. Indeed, the center has body mapping equipment and fast-output prototype facilities for researchers. For athletes, it hosts a full basketball court, 200-meter endurance track, 100-meter straight-away track, and full artificial turf field. It also boasts the world’s largest motion capture installations with over 400 cameras.
Sustainable slam dunk
For questions of sustainable practices in such a facility, Nike has the answers. The Lebron James Innovation Center will run off of 100% renewable energy, with 908 solar panels on the roof and wind energy from the nearby Columbia Gorge. Nike reports that 85% (4 million pounds) of construction debris was diverted from landfills, in partnership with Waste Management. 70% of the wood used was from sustainable and “noncontroversial” sources.
“If you don’t have a safe place to play, you’re not going to play as much as we want, and we want everybody moving,” said Matthew Nurse, VP of the Nike Explore Team Sport Research Lab. “Our mission is to make athletes better and make the world better for athletes, and we’re living in an era where sustainability is incredibly important.”
Garrett C. Owen
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