The teams of Bjarke Ingels Group, Denmark, and Heatherwick Studio, UK, have completed a joint project to build a Google campus in Silicon Valley. Named Google Bay View, the 102,193 sq. meters consisting of three buildings, occupies a site near the NASA Research Center.
The new campus features open space, two office buildings, a 1,000-person event center, and 240-room short-term housing for employees. The buildings are designed to “state the environment and sustainability.” They have flowing, tent-like roofs made like dragon scales from 50,000 solar panels.
Thanks to the concave shape of the panels, the buildings will be able to cover approximately 40% of their own energy needs. Google Bay View is designed to run on carbon-free energy 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “Our Bay View campus design is the result of an incredible collaborative design process. Working with a client like Google has resulted in an architecture where every single decision is based on hard data and empirical analysis,” said Bjarke Ingels, founder and creative director of Bjarke Ingels Group. “The result is a campus where amazing rooftops collect every photon that hits the buildings; energy blocks store and extract heat, and the beautiful natural flora is actually a garden that filters and purifies water for buildings.
Google, BIG and Heatherwick Studio have developed lightweight designs that can be optimized and adapted for the future needs of employees in an ever-growing company. The three buildings are built to reflect specific themes identified in Google’s terms of reference at the start of the project: innovation, nature, and community. While team spaces are designed at the top level, shared spaces are located at the bottom. Inside, there is a series of inner “courtyards” connecting the levels. They provide teams with easy access to cafes, kitchenettes, meeting rooms and common areas.
Instead of being segmented by excessive columns and retaining walls, the structure of the roof allows for a wide open space. Due to the large spans, workplaces can receive more natural light.
The campus will receive LEED-NC v4 Platinum certification and will be the largest facility ever to receive an LBC Water Petal certification from International Living Future Institute (ILFI).
