PUMA(R) City Makes Its Global Debut at the Start of Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009 in...

PUMA(R) City Makes Its Global Debut at the Start of Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009
in Alicante, Spain
Twenty-Four Steel Shipping Containers Are Retrofitted and Transformed Into A
Mobile Retail And Event Space at Select Ports of Call Throughout the World's
Most Extreme Around-the-World Ocean Race

ALICANTE, Spain, Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- In preparation for the start of
the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009, PUMA(R) today unveiled PUMA City at the
opening of the race's official port village in Alicante, Spain.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080919/NEF058 )
A tour de force of architecture and design, the massive 11,000 square-foot
structure is made from twenty-four, forty-foot long steel shipping containers,
each weighing in at eleven tons. Built in China and designed to be a mobile
unit, PUMA City was shipped to Alicante via cargo ship at the end of August
and was assembled at the entrance of the race village in just two weeks. It
will be open to the general public from today until mid-October when PUMA
Ocean Racing's il mostro and the other competition boats depart for Cape Town,
South Africa on the first leg of the nine month-long Volvo Ocean Race. Once
the boats leave the port of Alicante, PUMA City will be dissembled and make
its way across the Atlantic Ocean to await the arrival of the Volvo Ocean Race
in Boston Harbor in April 2009.
"The impressive and innovative set-up of PUMA City is the perfect backdrop
when il mostro sets the sails for the first route of the Volvo Ocean Race,"
said PUMA Chairman and CEO Jochen Zeitz. "It's the perfect setting, coming in
the well-known inspirational and typical PUMA-style, for launching our new
sailing category."
PUMA City consists of three levels of steel shipping containers stacked on
top of one another and then slightly shifted to create natural outdoor spaces
with large overhangs and wide open terraces, which will be utilized for
entertaining and in-port race viewing. A unique PUMA retail space on the
ground floor offers a selection of the PUMA Sailing, Motorsport, Urban
Mobility and PUMA Archives apparel, footwear and accessories collections. As
the official supplier of Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009, the retail space on the
second floor features the entire Volvo Ocean Race collection, which will be
the only location where those products can be purchased in the race village.
The upper container is a long, open area containing a bar, lounge and event
space spilling out onto an oversized wooden deck. This area will be used for
concerts, parties and other events where all race goers are welcome.
"PUMA City is a testament to PUMA's creativity as a brand, its support of
the PUMA Ocean Racing team and the commitment to the spirit of the Volvo Ocean
Race," says Antonio Bertone, PUMA CMO. "It was a lot of hard work from many
people to get this huge structure to Alicante in time for the start of the
race and we couldn't be happier with the result."
This design conception of PUMA City began in July 2007. Construction began
in China in January 2008 and was completed in just eight months. The
internationally acclaimed architecture office of LOT-EK designed the building
as a modular system that ships as a conventional cargo container. A unique
system of covering panels were designed to fully seal all of the actual
structures during travel, protecting each unit from the elements while
crossing the open ocean. Once the structure reached land these panels were
removed and connected together forming the open interior spaces. Puma City is
the first building of its kind to fully take advantage of the global shipping
network already in place and at 11,000 square feet, it is the first container
building of its size to be truly mobile. It is also designed to respond to all
of the architectural challenges; meeting international building code,
withstanding dramatic climate changes, rapid on-site assembly, and handling
day-to-day operations.
"PUMA City is a fantastic example of mobile architecture featuring a
dramatic cantilever, a complex weave of double height indoor and outdoor
spaces," says LOT-EK architect Giuseppe Lignano. "Great colors and graphics
transform a shipping container stack into a landmark on the horizon of mobile
architecture."
PUMA announced their entry into the sailing category in May 2007, when
they officially entered into the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009 with the PUMA
Ocean Racing Team and the PUMA il mostro, a Volvo Open 70 skippered by Ken
Read. PUMA Ocean Racing's il mostro was christened by Oscar-nominated actress
Salma Hayek in a waterfront ceremony at the Institute of Contemporary
Art/Boston at Fan Pier in May 2008.
The around the world ocean race will be making the only U.S. stop at Fan
Pier in Boston, Massachusetts, the home of PUMA North America and its global
marketing headquarters. The sportlifestyle brand began carrying a full line of
performance and lifestyle sailing apparel, footwear and accessories in May
2008, which is available at sailing specialty stores and select PUMA Concept
Stores and in PUMA City.
For more information about the race, team and the PUMA Sailing
collections, please visit www.pumaoceanracing.com
PUMA(R) is the global Sportlifestyle company that successfully fuses
influences from sport, lifestyle and fashion. PUMA's unique industry
perspective delivers the unexpected in Sportlifestyle Footwear, Apparel and
Accessories, through technical innovation and revolutionary design.
Established in Herzogenaurach, Germany in 1948, PUMA distributes products in
over 80 countries. For further information please visit www.puma.com
SOURCE PUMA

Katie Sheptyck of PUMA, +1-978-698-1295, Katie.sheptyck@puma.com