Clif Bar Headquarters

Workplace

The Clif Bar Headquarters transforms an original World War II valve manufacturing facility into a workplace haven for the outdoor enthusiasts at Clif Bar & Company, a leading maker of organic sports nutrition foods and healthy snacks. The space celebrates the inherent natural light and volumetric space of the repurposed warehouse, while capturing the company culture and connecting employees to the outdoors through biophilic interior design. From custom door pulls made from repurposed bike frames to the largest smart solar array in North America—which provides most of the office’s electricity needs—the adaptive reuse focuses on Clif Bar’s core values to sustain its brands, its business, its people, its community, and the planet. The LEED Platinum® for Commercial Interiors headquarters features an open office working environment, a research and development kitchen, an employee wellness area, on-site childcare, theater space, and a café. Building upon the previous expansion completed in 2012, ZGF completed an additional 43,000 SF second-floor expansion project in 2018. Other program elements include a café/coffee bar, bicycle parking, a fitness area, quiet rooms, and a large conference room with advanced AV capabilities.

Location

Emeryville, CA

Square Feet

107,000

Completion date

2018

Project Component

Architecture services

Interior design and space planning

Graphic design 

Fabrication

Re-purposed bikes, kayaks, snowboards, and surfboards that had passed their useful life as sports equipment, now serve as artwork suspended from the ceiling.

These art installations were a unique collaboration between the ZGF design team and Clif Bar and were assembled on site to represent shapes found in nature such as a helix, comet and lotus.

Each art piece was a live experiment, beginning with a fully engineered, computer-modeled concept developed by an in-house artist/model maker. For example, the kayak helix was dynamically spun in place to achieve the desired effect and the bikes in the bike comet were systematically suspended from the ceiling with stainless wire and elevated and shifted to achieve the desired result. Each hanging art piece assists in wayfinding and tells a story about Clif Bar employees or sponsored athletes.