Nike Unveils Spectacular Serena Williams Building at Nike HQ

By Lovey Jergens
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Updated: May 4, 2022

Serena Williams stands outside the Nike building named in her honor. Photo credit: Serena Williams Instagram

By Thomas Shubert

Nike has just opened its brand new Serena Williams Building and it is almost as impressive as her catalog of achievements. It is 1 million sq. ft in size, or the size of 140 tennis courts, and will house 1000 of Nike’s designers. There are four cafés, aptly named after the four major tennis titles, a special “East Compton Court” that pays homage to her upbringing, and an “Olympia Theater” named after Serena’s daughter.

It is an incredible architectural and structural undertaking that includes many personal touches too. Serena’s favorite color is Purple and is seen throughout the “city-like” building. Serena’s favorite flower, the rose, is featured throughout as well. The building is also environmentally conscious with rainwater harvesting and 648 solar panels. The three interconnected wings and skybridges will likely create a unique working and touring experience for the lucky individuals that get to go inside!

Nike’s Company Mission: Bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world.

*If you have a body, you are an athlete.

Nike ‘s new flagship structure at its Oregon campus sends a clear message to the world, and one that stays firmly in line with its mission statement above. Interestingly, they did not choose MJ, LBJ, Kobe, Tiger, Roger, or Rafa as inspiration for this building, they chose Serena.

Regardless of how you feel about it, this writer supposes the aforementioned names are already serving as inspirations in the field of male sports mainly, and this likely influenced Nike’s strategic planning from the beginning. Given how many sports and athletes there are around the world, this building serves as a beacon for tennis and will bring further attention to our global sport.

This building represents even more momentum for Serena coming off a very successful movie (King Richard) and further catapults her fame and stardom to new heights (literally). The tennis world awaits her return to the court however, and hopefully she can attain Slam #24 so that Nike will have to renovate its new structure and add another glass column to the existing 23 that are already installed. Hopefully an adept poet or witty meme account will expertly and fully describe the poetic nature of Serena breaking through the establishment and creating groundbreaking changes in the world.

Editor’s note • This story was written by Thomas Shubert of Honolulu • we were present when Bud Collins called Shubert the best tennis writer of this generation. They could sit and talk for hours. If you visit the Hawaiian Islands this is where he is:

Tom Shubert

Tennis Faculty
Tennis School | Punahou School
1601 Punahou Street, Honolulu, HI 96822
808.943.3614 | tshubert@punahou.edu
www.punahou.edu