Scope: Master Plan, Interiors
Area: 180,000 SF
Photo: Benny Chan, Fotoworks

Google selected Clive Wilkinson Architects in an invited competition to design their 500,000-square-foot Silicon Valley campus. Together with workplace strategists DEGW, and environmental visionary William McDonough, a master plan was developed to create a diversified campus environment. The design integrated highly focused software engineering workspace with learning, meeting, recreational and food facilities, working with the existing conditions of the inner courtyards and building shell.

A sustainable energy-conserving environment was a high priority, and most building materials used were either cradle-to-cradle products or contained high recycled content. Doors culled from previous build-outs were used on the two-story tower elements as windows, and open workstations were recycled product. To solve the need for a large number of perimeter workrooms, the Design Team developed a glass-enclosed 3-person workroom with absorbent tent ceilings to soften sound transmission. This ‘Glass Tent’ office system not only satisfied privacy needs for concentrated work and retained access to light and views, but it also provided a solution for rapid construction, accommodating Google’s immense expansion curve. The project won several design awards, including a national AIA Honor Award.