Silicon Valley real estate is on fire again. Tech companies are reinventing themselves through architecture. While the Apple spaceship has caught the eye of everyone recently, many other tech companies are setting up new digs for their headquarters too. Google, not to be outdone by Apple, is building a new headquarters in Mountain View, as well as Nividia, Google West, and Facebook which was just completed. Check out the new Silicon Valley.
Google Headquarters
The whole project is a part of Mountain View’s North Bayshore Precise Plan — an environmentally-focused effort to revitalize the underdeveloped area along Highway 101. The final campus will be nearly 600,000 square feet. There will be 45,000 square feet of interior landscaping and nearly 20,000 square feet of public walkways.
Incorporating designers and architects from New York, London, and Santa Monica, the campus is intended to have fully developed indoor and outdoor spaces that incorporate “native habitats and vegetation.” What’s being called a “Green Loop” will run through the campus, pathways that will snake through parks lined with cafes and shops. Google is designing this section with the public in mind — a sort of National Mall to its Washington Monument.
Facebook HQ
With Facebook recently topping 10,000 employees, growing its ranks 48 percent in the past year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg needed a new building. In March, Facebook opened the doors on the new space, which Zuckerberg partnered on with Frank Gehry—and it opened the doors to CNBC’s cameras for the first time.
Gehry created the world’s largest open floor plan in the world, and Facebook commissioned local artists to decorate it. The 430,000 square-foot space fits 2,800 employees, and Zuckerberg has a desk right in the middle.
The goal of the building—MPK20 (for Menlo Park Campus building 20)—was to be to create a space that’s eco-friendly and reflects Facebook’s mission to connect people.
Nividia HQ
Nvidia, a graphics chipmaker, has put grand plans for a Gensler-designed facility across from their current Headquarters on hold for an undetermined period of time. If built, the triagular-shaped structures will yield 1M square feet of office space, and bring bold architecture to cookie-cutter Santa Clara.
Google Bay View Campus
Google has pushed back plans to build a massive new “Bay View” campus on the former site of the NASA-Ames research center in Mountain View. The project is now scheduled to be built in three phases, with construction wrapping up by 2022. The new buildings will house between 3,500 and 5,000 employees, and will feature stunning views of the Bay and surrounding wetlands.
Bonus round HQ – Amazon
Amazon.com this week revealed plans for three verdant bubbles in downtown Seattle, joining Apple’s circular “spaceship,” Facebook’s Frank Gehry-designed open-office complex and a new Googleplex on the list of planned trophy offices. This is being built in Seattle but check out this design.