Google has submitted plans for a headquarters in Mountain View, in the San Francisco Bay area of California, otherwise known as Silicon Valley. This will be the first time the company has built a complex from scratch.Â
The 316,000 square metre Googleplex was designed by Thomas Heatherwick’s UK studio and Denmark’s Bjarke Ingels Group. It will bring 20,000 of Google’s staff under one roof.Â
The plan for the office is to make it from lightweight blocks that can be moved to reconfigure internal spaces. Translucent canopies cover each site, controlling the internal climate while letting in daylight and ventilation. There will also be a variety of trees, cafes and bike paths woven through these structures.
All photos via Google
David Radcliffe, Google’s vice president of real estate, said: “This project is about much more than just office space; it’s about doing more with the local community as well.Â
“We scoured the world looking for a special architect who could really do something different and we really got down to what we believe are the two best in class.”Â
Bjarke Ingels, said: “Everything has turned into parking lots. We’re trying to reverse this process and recreate some of the natural qualities that were there in the first place. To transform the sea of parking that you find today into a natural landscape where you will find an abundance of green outside, but also inside.”
All photos via Google
Heatherwick said: “When you visit the Google campus there are lots of trees, but there’s this constant undermining of that by the road system and the infrastructure required for all those cars. It feels like trees are street furniture.”Â
Watch a video on the proposed development here.
