Arc’teryx’s new Vancouver space, The Nest, began as a dark, restrictive, former brewery site on the city’s North Shore. Positioned at the edge of a large complex, the building posed every kind of challenge, from zoning and infrastructure constraints to the complexities of converting an industrial shell into a warm, high-performing, human-centred environment.
Working in close collaboration with Arc’teryx, our team transformed those limitations into opportunities. The result is a brand experience and employee centre that anchors this North Shore home as a flexible hub where work, play and community come together.
The Nest was guided by a clear strategic foundation. Our workplace strategy team engaged closely with Arc’teryx to understand how teams collaborate, create and connect. We explored spatial relationships, workflows and shared culture to ensure the design reflects how people learn, gather and build product together.
The result is a multi-purpose environment that supports day-to-day collaboration while hosting workshops, product showcases and community moments. It’s a space that connects Arc’teryx employees with the broader community and provides a platform for co-creation and storytelling.
Every Arc’teryx product evolves through iteration and testing. This space was no different.
Our concept, ‘the hidden line,’ draws from the brand’s logo, the Archaeopteryx fossil, symbolising evolution, mastery and the leap between earth and flight. In climbing, a ‘hidden line’ is discovered, not marked, and emerges through instinct, persistence and movement. This idea shaped the design narrative.
Moving through the space feels like an ascent. Dark, textured finishes recall the forest trail and light opens towards the core of the building, diffusing gradually through brighter tones inspired by alpine peaks and lichen-covered stone. The journey culminates at ‘the perch’, a mezzanine that serves as the symbolic summit and a place of reflection and perspective.
Originally imagined as a small ‘treehouse,’ the mezzanine grew into the project’s defining feature. It anchors the volume and turns vertical space into opportunity. From here, people can view film screenings, hold collaborative sessions or simply take in the energy below.
Flexibility sits at the core of the design. The main hall shifts from a climbing gym and training space to a film venue and product storytelling environment. Movable furniture, lighting, AV and acoustic solutions allow the room to morph at a moment’s notice, reflecting an ethos of agility, testing and continual refinement.
Beside the main space, the café blurs the line between workplace and everyday life. Part mountain café, part gathering place, it’s where people meet before a run, debrief after a workshop or share a coffee at the day’s end. It’s a casual, intentional and welcoming space rooted in the human-centred culture and West Coast spirit of Arc’teryx.
For the brand, function and beauty are inseparable. The same principle guided our design choices. Materials were left raw and expressive, with stone, wood and metal that celebrate craft over polish. Soft furnishings incorporate excess Arc’teryx materials, echoing the company’s ReBIRD program for garment repair and reuse. Modular retail-style shelving displays product archives and prototypes, blending workspace and gallery.
The result is an environment that feels crafted, not constructed, a space that wears its authenticity proudly. Arc’teryx designs gear that performs in the harshest conditions. The Nest reflects that same honesty. With every design decision we asked, ‘is this true to the brand, is it essential?’ The effect is immersive; you don’t just see the brand; you feel it.
Beatrice Tumatelli, Associate Director, M Moser AssociatesLighting was key to creating a sense of natural immersion. Designed by our lighting experts, it simulates the transition from trail to summit. Diffused and atmospheric, it mirrors the rhythm of ascent, like sunlight filtering through forest canopy or a summit at dawn.
Texture and palette draw from the Coast Mountains, grounding the space in place. A lush living wall reinforces this biophilic connection, bringing texture, movement and a sense of the North Shore’s evergreen landscape into the heart of the space.
Transforming an industrial site into a living brand experience required precise engineering. Our integrated team helped resolve structural, mechanical and code challenges while maintaining the design vision. The large display wall, immersive lighting system, and an interactive climbing wall that combines Lemur and Kilter technologies help bring Arc’teryx’s narrative to life. The wall’s illuminated routes even mirror the ‘hidden line’ concept.
The Nest has quickly become a central gathering place for Arc’teryx teams and the community. Without a single fixed workstation, the layout proves that culture thrives on adaptability, not permanence. It is a space defined by movement, from training sessions and workshops to shared meals and storytelling, rooted in connection to nature and to each other.
The Nest has been an overwhelming success at Arc’teryx. The feedback from every level of the business has been consistently positive. M Moser was on time, on budget, on brief and a pleasure to work with. We would partner with them again without hesitation.
Tim Clayman, Director, Facilities and Workplace Experience, Arc'teryx EquipmentThe Nest mirrors the brand’s DNA of craft, performance and place, welcoming employees, athletes and guests into a thoughtful extension of the brand. Born from challenge, guided by purpose and built for evolution, the space reminds us that the best designs always keep reaching for what’s next. Like every climb, the journey doesn’t end at the summit. It’s about finding the next line, hidden, waiting and ready to be discovered.
Completed
2025
Vancouver, British Columbia
669 sq m / 7,200 sq ft
Barrie Underhill & Upper Left Photography
