The newly opened LeBron James Innovation Center on Nike's campus in Beaverton, Oregon is home to the Nike Sport Research Lab, where the world's leading sports manufacturer develops and tests the gear of the future. Designed by Seattle-based Olson Kundig, the 700k square foot building brings together 650 staff across teams involved in every phase of research and development, requiring a collaborative, functional workplace.

In Olson Kundig's words, "Interior finishes are deliberately left raw and elemental—nothing is intended to feel precious... The visibility of these workspaces reinforces the hands-on nature of research, development and testing and showcases these efforts to other teams."

Our shared love of steel brought us to the table with Nike, Olson Kundig, and Portland-based furniture dealership PacificWRO to develop a series of 97 tables in this spirit. Through our own months-long R&D process, RAD designed and prototyped a series of tables celebrating the raw materiality and functionality of their creative work environment.

Designed to enable collaboration between teams and support the innovation that can come from chance encounters, the tables feature a writable markerboard surface, inset within a welded steel edgeband atop an oversized angle steel base on large, industrial casters.

RAD Cafe Tables feature both inside and outside the building, including the tables shown here, made with a custom metal edgeband. The adjacent mural pays homage to LeBron's mom, Gloria.