In Store For Adventure -- At Rei's New Flagship Operation, Customers Can Climb, Hike, Bike

With a simulated rain shower to test Gore-Tex jackets and a rough-and-tumble path through a forest to test mountain bikes, a premier outdoor retailer is about to unveil a store that is more than just a place to shop.

Welcome to Recreational Equipment Inc.'s new flagship store, a $30 million wood, glass, steel and concrete structure that is in the final stages of construction just off Interstate 5 in Seattle's Cascade neighborhood. Filled with user-friendly areas where customers can test outdoor clothing and equipment, and crowned by a glass-encased climbing wall with an expansive view of downtown Seattle and the Olympic Mountains, the store is a chance for REI to dive into a growing trend: retail as entertainment.

Scheduled to open Sept. 13 after almost three years of planning, the store was designed to be a Seattle landmark, where the straightforward REI ethic, environmental conservation and stylish architecture would converge.

Inexpensive and recycled materials were a priority - some of the windows inside were salvaged from the Overall Laundry building that formerly occupied the 2.1-acre site. Every element was designed to be functional and to add character to the store: Visible steel support beams and cables will be allowed to rust over time; unpainted banisters were made from compressed wood rather than natural lumber.

"It's true to the REI roots," said Julian Prossor, REI's project manager. "It really captured that - the essence of REI - in that it's purposeful, for want of a better word. It's not just a fluffy building."

Rather than replicate the Capitol Hill store - a neighborhood landmark for more than three decades that will now become a Value Village - the designers re-created certain elements, such as the meandering paths of the old location, with varying floor levels and connecting ramps.

The new store, however, also offers new twists on the trail-like paths: the concrete floor is smooth in some areas, rough and bumpy in others, and artist Judith Caldwell created bronze tracks of ducks, deer and bears that are scattered through the store.

Along the way, past the large sandstone and steel fireplace in the center of the store, customers will find test stations: spots to try out stoves, water filters, bicycle lights; a simulated hiking trail to test boots; a shower to test rain gear; and a door to an outdoor trail with obstacles and inclines to test mountain bikes.

"Rather than having a passive store, we wanted to make it more active and get people more involved in how the product will actually be used," Prossor said.

Bert Gregory and the design team from the Mithun Partners, a Seattle architecture firm, have been working on the new store since 1993, collaborating with REI and the other companies involved in the project.

The architects and graphic designers set out to create a store - not too slick or polished - that would fit in with the industrial buildings in the Cascade neighborhood and incorporate energy-efficient climate control and lighting. REI spirit is everywhere

The rugged, natural, active spirit of REI is everywhere, down to such details as a handicapped-parking sign that evokes a wheelchair racer, and parking levels designated by symbols for water, forest, mountain and sun.

Creating a cost-effective structure was a top priority for REI, despite the store's $30 million price tag, which includes the price of the land. REI, with 1.4 million members, is a cooperative, after all, and members share in the company's profits through annual dividends.

Some were concerned that the store's cost would cut into their dividends or cause prices to go up. But neither will happen, said REI spokesman Christopher Doyle.

One way REI kept costs down was to find corporate sponsors to help pay for some areas. Swiss Army Brands provided 13 clocks to be set to various times representing different locations around the world, such as Mount Everest. JanSport helped to pay for a Kids' Camp, a children's play area that is filled with fiberglass rocks and trees. About 50 smaller areas throughout the store were cosponsored by other companies.

Some original ideas, such as an indoor swimming pool to test paddling equipment and an ice cap for the climbing wall, had to be scrapped to keep costs down.

"We were consistently always making choices to keep within the budget," Gregory said. "They wanted to achieve a lot of great goals but didn't want to have a big impact on membership dividends."

While the back side of the structure, facing Eastlake Avenue East, looks like a plain, gray warehouse, the front side is set back from Yale Avenue North by a 21,000-square-foot landscaped courtyard.

Garden has trails, waterfall

The garden, enclosed by a chain-link fence that can be locked at night, brims with 54 native Northwest plant species, a walking trail, a bike trail, a pond and a waterfall. Water will recirculate continuously through the waterfall during store hours, said landscape architect Tom Berger, of The Berger Partnership. The waterfall will run heavier during rains, with water flowing from the building's angled roof.

Wooden terraces and banks of windows - tinted aquamarine by the coating that helps block the afternoon sunlight - overlook the garden and offer views of downtown Seattle, the Space Needle, the Puget Sound and the Olympic peaks.

The entrance to the store is a triangular foyer housing the "REI Story" - three exhibits recounting the history of REI, beginning with Lloyd and Mary Anderson, who founded the co-op in 1938; the evolution and testing of outdoor gear; and a focus on members, including those who participated in major REI expeditions and everyday members using REI equipment on their own trips.

From there the retail hike begins. Part of the reason REI wanted a new store was to stay on the cutting edge in a competitive market, providing a larger assortment of outdoor gear as well as the customer service on which REI prides itself. The two-floor, 80,000-square-foot retail area will be stocked with 40 percent more merchandise than at the Capitol Hill store, including seven lines of bicycles, 20 lines of skis and 366 styles of shoes.

The Leonhardt Group, a Seattle graphic-design firm, and Corbin Design, of Traverse City, Mich., created signs and directories that mimic outdoor trail markers. These posts offer direction toward the five main areas: climbing, camping, paddling, skiing, cycling.

The store will also include a 538-space underground parking garage, loading docks, a Todo Wraps cafe, a 250-person meeting room, gear-repair shops, a travel center with computers to check weather and road conditions and look up Internet sites, and a gallery of wildlife photographs by Art Wolfe.

And there is the climbing wall.

At 65 feet, the concrete and reinforcing steel structure is the tallest free-standing indoor-climbing wall in the world, Gregory said. Entre Prises - France/USA designed the shape of the wall, and RSP/EQE of Seattle performed the structural design.

Its 1,000 handholds provide paths for climbers of varying abilities, and it can accommodate as many as 15 climbers at a time. Enclosed in a glass section with crisscrossing steel supports, the wall can be used for climbing and training year-round. It is buffered from the rest of the building for greater earthquake protection.

The climbing wall, visible from the freeway, was designed in part as a wordless label for the store and Seattle, an image of REI and its culture.

"REI's heritage is climbing," Gregory said. "It helps form a gateway to downtown and it's an icon of REI."

-------------------- REI BLAZES NEW TRAIL --------------------

REI plans to open its flagship store next month in Seattle's Cascade area, relocating from its Capitol Hill site of 30 years. The new store, designed to encourage a strong interaction between outdoor retail and nature, will feature the nation's tallest free-standing indoor climbing wall and an outdoor mountain-bike test track, an outdoor nature trail will wind through plants native to the Pacific Northwest, and a waterfall will mimic nature with increased flow during rainfall.

Backbone of the buildings

State-of-the-art frames, using the Northridge, Calif., earthquake as a guideline, exceed the seismic code requirements for the Seattle area and anticipate code changes in 2000.

Steel moment frames: A series of seven frames, designed to resist east-west seismic movement, spans from the roof to the first floor of retail. The frames are anchored to 40-foot concrete columns that pass through the parking structure.

Diagonal-braced frames: twenty 12-inch-diameter steel-pipe braces (five frames on four sides) support the glass enclosure for the rock.

A set of 12 frames stacked in six pairs on the outer walls of the main building is designed to resist north-south movement.

Efficient and strong

Beams/columns: the glue-laminated beams and columns that strengthened the terrace support of the Eastlake building are constructed with the most efficient use of lumber, using small pieces of laminated wood.

Features

Nature trail: Partly wheelchair-accessible, it will be lined with 54 types of ground cover, shrubs and trees native to the Pacific Northwest. The trail gives the sensation of walking on forest duff, using plants that thrive in lowland wet areas and sunnier, drier slopes.

Bike trail: a 580-foot loop, designed as an all-weather track for mountain bikes.

Life-size footprints of 20 animals, ranging from beavers to bears to great blue herons, lead visitors along a path through the store. The prints are of fauna that can be found in the wilderness or national parks of the Pacific Northwest and are placed according to each animal's stride. The concrete path is rougher along the ends to simulate a nature trail.

When it rains, it pours: The waterfall's steady stream of water increases as rain falls. A pump recirculates the water.

1. Roof water accumulates from ducts in channel.

2. Normal water flow: 400 gallons per minute.

3. Rainfall may add as much as 50 percent to normal flow.

Pinnacle (climbing rock)

It is the first thin-shelled climbing pinnacle in North America and is enclosed within an 80-foot glass tower separated from the rest of the store to minimize stresses put on the main building. The reinforced laminated-glass enclosure is sound-resistant. Diagonal steel frames enable it to withstand a sizeable earthquake.

Activities: More than 1,000 modular climbing holds and 10 to 12 skill routes for face climbing, bouldering and summiting.

Features: Programmable lighting will simulate the sun's path across the horizon; at the summit climbers can take in views of Puget Sound, Olympic Mountains, Space Needle and downtown.

Structure: Four shell layers - steel reinforcing horizontal and vertical bars (rebar), expanded metal lath, shotcrete concrete and a hand-applied finish concrete coat.

Content: 130 yards of cement and four miles of hand-shaped steel reinforcing rod.

Height: 65 feet (tallest free-standing indoor climbing structure in the world.)

Capacity: Up to 15 climbers at one time.

Weight: 110 tons.

Base: Floor beneath pinnacle is covered with 10 inches of pea gravel to cushion falls.