Google recently opened a new 1.1 million-square-foot Bay View campus outside Mountain View. The new campus is introduced as the company begins its transition to hybrid working.
The company says that the new campus has been designed with an emphasis on "prioritizing the experience of the people in the building over the exterior form". It looks more like a tent from all sides.
" After talking to Go oglers about what they need from a workplace, we found that they're happy, productive and creative when they come together in teams, but need spaces that are buffered from sound and movement to get deep-focus work done," David Radcliffe, Google's vice president of real estate and workplace services, stated in an official blog post.
The focus on people carried into the careful attention we paid to elements you can see and feel — like materials, daylight, air quality, thermal comfort and acoustics. Here’s how this shows up throughout the campus:
- The campus incorporates design principles — like greenery, natural daylight and outdoor views from every desk — to improve the health and wellbeing of those inside. Clerestory windows modulate direct light onto desks with automated window shades that open and close throughout the day.
- The ventilation system uses 100% outside air — a remarkable achievement when you consider that a typical system only uses around 20-30% of outside air.
- To create the healthiest environment possible, we vetted thousands of building products and materials to remove toxins. Everything from carpet tiles, paints, piping, plywood and furniture were evaluated using the Living Building Challenge Red List as a framework.
- Artwork from local artists through Google's Artist In Residence program are a part of the courtyards. The artwork relates to Bay Area ecology and helps with way finding in the building.
Closer look at Google's new campus
- The new campus is built keeping in mind that it will need to accommodate 4,000 employees from the Bay Area.
- The campus includes team spaces on the upper level and gathering spaces on the canopy-covered second floor. The idea is to separate focus and collaboration areas.
- The upper floor is divided into smaller neighborhoods separated by courtyards and connected via ramps.
- The new Google campus uses "dragon scale solar skin" on the pavilion-inspired canopy. The tech giant says that the nearby wind farms will power it on carbon-free energy 90 per cent of the time.
- The campus includes two kitchens powered by electricity and not gas.
- There are 17.3 acres of high-value natural areas — including wet meadows, woodlands and a marsh — that are designed to reestablish native landscapes and rehabilitate Bay Area wetlands. Something that’s especially important as Bay View sits close to the San Francisco Bay.
- The water retention ponds not only collect water for reuse, but also provide nature restoration, sea level rise protection, and access to the beauty of natural wetlands. New willow groves along the stormwater ponds provide resources for wildlife.
- The integrated geothermal pile system will help heat and cool the campus. The massive exchange field is integrated into the structural system, reducing the amount of water typically used for cooling by 90% — that’s equal to five million gallons of water annually.
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