Over the years, numerous Oakley eyewear products have featured in blockbuster titles like X-Men and the latest installment of the Mission: Impossible franchise. However, Oakley's movie magic goes beyond the brand's products. The ECLP23 goggles the company had designed for Tom Cruise's death-defying motorbike stunt in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One were available on display at the Oakley Headquarters at One Icon during the summer of 2023.
The Oakley Headquarters, much like Oakley's boldly designed products, features a provocative architecture with steampunk-inspired interiors to match. In interviews with the designer of the building, sci-fi classics like Metropolis and Blade Runner were cited as both inspiration and reference for the design.
In this post, we'll delve deeper into Oakley's brand and design philosophy and how it all translates into the Oakley Headquarters' architecture:
Oakley and Colin Baden
Headquartered in Foothill Ranch, California, Oakley was started by Jim Jannard in 1975. Today, Oakley's line of sunglasses is a perfect and colorful blend of fashion and peak performance. The brand is fearless in its wide-lensed designs like the Sutro and M2 and simultaneously unafraid to delve into more everyday-friendly releases like the Holbrook and Frogskins.
Early this year, Oakley championed the spirit of the Wood Dragon in its Lunar New Year capsule, featuring a reimagined Holbrook and Sutro and the brand's Line Miner goggles, all sporting bright yellow Prizm technology lenses. Drawing inspiration from lunar shadows and the lunar calendar's moon phases, the products also integrated lunar dragons into the imagery.
Colin Baden began his relationship with Oakley in the early 90s, working on private and corporate projects for Jannard. Baden advised Oakley on product development and company imagery before joining full-time as Director of Design in 1996. He was later promoted to President in 1999 and CEO in August 2009.
Most notably, Baden worked with Langdon Wilson Architecture to design the Oakley Headquarters project from 1997 to 1998. Fun fact: Oakley's then-CEO Jannard is a friend of film director Ridley Scott and wanted to recreate the atmosphere of Blade Runner for his California office. The resulting building is a steampunk aesthetic architectural marvel that blends futuristic with rugged steelworks.
The Oakley Headquarters
Much of the design aspects of the Oakley Headquarters mixes elements of steampunk with sci-fi and fantasy, melding an aged and rugged futuristic design together with hints of medieval themes to create a visually stunning corporate headquarters like no other. In 2023, the Headquarters re-opened its doors after an extensive renovation to reveal the Oakley One Icon, the brand's flagship store.
Matching its exteriors, the interior architecture retains much of the post-apocalyptic, Terminator-like landscape with metal gears and steelworks everywhere you look. The flagship store features an all-new layout with updated lighting and design features inspired by Oakley Sport. Visitors can walk through Oakley's brand and design history throughout the store, which reads like a hyper-futuristic museum. You can learn everything from Prizm lens technology, the brand's RX designs, and historic eyewear silhouettes Oakley has featured over the years.
Outside the HQ is a full-sized, fully operational tank with the Oakley name printed. Previously, the tank was used by Oakley staffers to transport visitors to the HQ during the Infinite Hero Foundation conference. A military torpedo is mounted outside, a nod to the military troops that often use the brand's gear.
Indoors, visitors are greeted by ejection seats from fighter jets and large metal and steel parts for ambiance. The hallways throughout the corporate and manufacturing sections feature more steel and a fun, post-apocalyptic vibe, with occasional graffiti spotted on doors and cubicle dividers.
While indeed not the same thing, the Oakley HQ is not unlike the Mars project conceptualization we shared in a previous post — a nod to futuristic designs and the blurred line between architecture and innovation. More importantly, the building is a stark reminder of what design, fun, and sheer architectural ambition can achieve.
