On
2026Penn Relays
A purpose-built activation at the country's largest track and field meet.
We partnered with On to design and build three structures at Penn Relays, the largest track and field meet in the country. From strategy through spatial design, identity, and cultural programming, the activation was built to be useful to the athletes it served. Rather than impose another brand presence on a 130-year-old tradition, we integrated directly into the rhythm of their day at Franklin Field.
We partnered with On to design and build three structures at Penn Relays, the largest track and field meet in the country. From strategy through spatial design, identity, and cultural programming, the activation was built to be useful to the athletes it served. Rather than impose another brand presence on a 130-year-old tradition, we integrated directly into the rhythm of their day at Franklin Field.
The vision for the Penn Relays structures began with a question: what would it look like to design for the athletes?
The answer took the form of three scaffold-built structures designed like a gym. Bars to hang from, frames to stretch against, surfaces to climb on and rest under. Each structure exposed its own architecture, with no hidden frame and no decorative skin. The scaffold was the form.
The answer took the form of three scaffold-built structures designed like a gym. Bars to hang from, frames to stretch against, surfaces to climb on and rest under. Each structure exposed its own architecture, with no hidden frame and no decorative skin. The scaffold was the form.
Inside, the activation operated as three distinct spaces:
A retail pop-up where athletes could find the exact gear they needed to train, in their sizes, in real time. A style bar honoring track and field's long tradition of personal expression, a place for nails, hair, and pre-race ritual. And an athlete lounge with shaded space to stretch, rest, and gather between heats.
A retail pop-up where athletes could find the exact gear they needed to train, in their sizes, in real time. A style bar honoring track and field's long tradition of personal expression, a place for nails, hair, and pre-race ritual. And an athlete lounge with shaded space to stretch, rest, and gather between heats.
Music ran through the activation across all three days. Sets from Chancleta, Jewelssea, Bass Down, and DJ Na$h gave the space its own pulse, drawing athletes, friends, and spectators into the structures between events and turning the venue into a place people wanted to stay.
Across three days of competition, the structures became part of the meet. Athletes used them in ways we'd designed for and in ways we hadn't anticipated, treating the build as a continuous part of their warm-up, recovery, and social rhythm. The activation didn't ask for attention. It earned it by being useful.
By building for the athletes who make the meet what it is, On reinforced its place inside the running community as a brand that shows up for the race – and wins.
