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Snow Peak North American HQ
Photo Credit: Stephen A. Miller (Snow Peak) and AJ Meeker (Takibi)
Submitting Company: BnK Construction and Skylab Architecture

Location: Portland
Cost: Confidential
Owner/Developer: Snow Peak, Urban Development Partners
Architect: Skylab Architecture
Engineering Firms: Harper Houf Peterson Righellis (civil), Interface Engineering (MEP), VALAR Consulting Engineers
Other Consultants: Lango Hansen Landscape Architect (landscape), O-llc (lighting)
General Contractor: BnK Construction
Subcontractors: Ambient Automation, Bargreen Ellingson, Baxter & Flaming, Brandsen Floors, Cascade, Caughlan’s, Code Unlimited Colonial Services, Faster Permits, Five Star Electric, Haberstitch, Heritage Glass, Jack’s Overhead Door, Kingsmen Contracting, Laneco, Latimer HVAC, Marx Okubo, Miller Sons, Nuvo, Point Monitor, Portland Garment Factory, ProConstruct, StagePlan, Sturm Elevator, Submarine Hospitality, WCF, Wyatt Fire Protection

The new Snow Peak USA Flagship and Headquarters is an adaptive reuse of a nondescript, four-story, 1980s-era building in Northwest Portland into a multifunction retail space. Snow Peak occupies 14,725 square feet on the first two levels, with retail on the first floor and Snow Peak’s headquarters on the second floor.

The design is based on three driving principles: enter the outdoors and leave the city behind; build a new language both deeply Japanese and of the Pacific Northwest; and provide strong community-building experiences. Drawing on these principles, a diverse program of retail, showroom, office space, event space, restaurant and outdoor spaces were designed to provide ample moments to gather around food, art, home and nature.

Stacked platform stone stairs transport customers from the busy urban exterior and take advantage of the slightly subterranean first level to emphasize an interior experience that begins in the earth. Materials such as dark stone, wire-brushed black stained wood flooring, hand-troweled concrete, loose river rock, wood paneling and custom wall coverings were chosen for the first level.

Century-old Douglas fir beams were milled and stacked into a unique wall retail fixture system in a contemporary, American-inspired nod to traditional Japanese wood building methods. The ground floor features a restaurant and bar. The restaurant, Takibi, has indoor dining as well as seating in its covered outdoor patio space. The 1,000-square-foot patio includes an open, multipurpose space that is perfect for gathering around fire pits with Snow Peak’s camp chairs.

Snow Peak staff enter through the main retail space and use the gallery staircase and suspended bridge to enter the office space on the second floor. The office space holds two conference rooms, private offices, an open office, a kitchen, dining area and outdoor patio that overlooks the restaurant patio.