Concept Summary

The NikeLab Re-Creation Center was an opportunity for satis&fy’s best to engineer an experiential installation that would offer consumers a look behind the curtain at Nike’s recycling process. At its core, the Virgil Abloh-defined “power plant of a ‘different’ kind” isn’t simply a retail space, it’s a “cultural hub” —a community center designed to foster the inventive spirit of Chicago’s youth through a series of hands-on workshops and mentorship programs. It’s also a call-to-action: an open invitation for visitors to play a role in Nike’s Reuse-a-Shoe initiative. As customers donate their shoes, a conveyor belt transports the worn-out kicks into a collection site through a complex matrix of twists and turns. All donated shoes will eventually be transformed into Nike Grind —a sustainable textile, cultivated by Nike since the early ‘90s —and used to create a Virgil Abloh-designed community basketball court for Chicago ahead of the NBA All-Star Weekend 2020. satis&fy was charged with the complete production management. satis&fy was also tasked with the engineering how to build the tuba, as well as the structural implementation of it with the conveyor belt system.