googleplex, mountain view: designing interior spaces at an urban scale | untapped cities

21/04/15, 15:44Googleplex, Mountain View: Designing Interior Spaces at an Urban Scale | Untapped Cities

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Googleplex, Mountain View: Designing Interior Spacesat an Urban Scale

In this two part series, I will analyze two office buildings designed by Clive WilkinsonArchitects-the Googleplex in Mountain View, California, and Macquarie Bank inSydney, Australia. In both, the designers responded in physical form to a strategicneed, be it a revolutionary shift in corporate culture as in Macquarie Bank, or anenvironment that could encourage engineers to communicate while alsoaccommodating rapid growth, as in Google. A key to both designs was the conceptionof interior space at an urban scale, designing neighborhoods with distinct visualand experiential identities. In both buildings, the designs have reinforced corporatevalues, encouraged social interaction, better allocated real estate space and providedenergy savings. Good design can indeed go in tandem with good business, even acrosssuch disparate industries as finance and technology. As a note, this article was writtenbased on the original design of Building 43 at Google. Ill be following up post a visitto Googleplex in January.

In Why Architecture Matters, Paul Goldberger writes that cities must be more than asum of its parts and that they must also have a balance and coherence. Architecturedoes not exist in isolation but in relation to the buildings surrounding it. Corporatebuildings are not that dissimilar from cities, be it an entire campus headquarters or ahigh-rise building. Clive Wilkinson Architects design interior spaces with a city scalein mind. Googleplex, the main campus of Google, was the product of a distincttension (and ultimately a collaboration) between architect and client. While mostpeople think of Googleplex as a corporate campus from a macro perspective-indeedone of the directives was to make the workplace an extension of university life -what



is more extraordinary was the initiative to make the interior spaces of theheadquarters feel like a town. In other words, the floor plan, in addition to theconfiguration of buildings, was designed at an urban scale.[1]

Google hired DEGW, a strategic design consultancy firm in addition to CliveWilkinson Architects through an invited competition to work on the headquarters in2004. At first, it seemed difficult to clarify objectives. The founders, engineers atheart, were not initially very interested in aesthetics, preferring solutions that couldhappen quickly and create higher efficiency.[2] In addition, the cultural barrierbetween architect and programming engineer was daunting. Mary Davidge, aworkplace consultant who has overseen projects at Apple, Ebay and Yahoo! says,Most engineers focus so much on how things work and how theyre going to work forthem. The way the space is going to look and feel is often not important to them.Theyre also often less willing to let the designer design it. Theyre used to developingsolutions. [2] As a result, Clive Wilkinson decided to shift gears and present hisdesigns as solutions. The team analyzed how the employees used space and devisedthirteen zones, characterizing them from hot to cold based on level of socialinteraction. According to Andrew Laing of DEGW, each floor was then divided intosub neighborhoods,[1] identifiable by landmarks which are the common spaces.[2]The language of the design, from landmarks to zoning of activity, to circulationroutes, underscores the effort to conceptualize the space, micro and macro, as anurban identity.

Using a variety of research methods, including focus groups with employees,interviews and design charettes, DEGW identified four main design priorities atGoogle:[3]

Flexibility and Adaptability: Allow teams to quickly form, collocate andrelocate, density and proximity are key for information flowConcentration and Collaboration: Balancing individual and groupWork/Life Balance: A work environment that is egalitarian, social, attractive,convenient and healthyLeveraged Learning: Growing the next generation



Each principle is woven into the design of Google Headquarters. On Googlesdescription of its corporate culture, it is clear that design and physical space havebecome intertwined with its identity. The opening sentence of the description reads,At lunchtime, almost everyone eats in the office caf, sitting at whatever table has anopening and enjoying conversations with Googlers from different teams. Ourcommitment to innovation depends on everyone being comfortable sharing ideas andopinions. [4] The design, as well as the quirkiness that is embedded into thearchitecture, also reflects a mission to democratize (or at the very least, open up) itshierarchy. The description continues, because we believe that each Googler is anequally important part of our success, no one hesitates to pose questions directly toLarry or Sergey [the founders] in our weekly all-hands (TGIF ) meetings-or spike avolleyball across the net at a corporate officer. [4]

Googles offices around the globe are not identical, further reads the description, butthey share some main characteristics, including Googlers sharing cubes, yurts, andhuddle rooms-and very few solo offices, laptops everywhere-standard issue for mobilecoding, email on the go and note-taking, games such as foosball, pool tables,volleyball, ping pong, and gyms, break rooms with hundreds of snacks andgrassroots employee groups for all interests, like meditation, film, wine tasting andsalsa dancing. [4] Yurts, also created by Wilkinson, are small fabric structures madeof recycled denim that are used as meeting rooms. They are easily assembled or torndown [2] allowing for flexibility in spatial configuration and impromptucollaboration. According to Google, yurts also make heating and cooling moreefficient.[5]



Floorplan, building 43 by Clive Wilkinson Architects

The first building completed at Googleplex (Building 43, above) was formerly used bySilicon Graphics, Inc., so the design was less focused on faade as it was on internalspace, engaging adjacent spaces within the building and activating peripheral spaceon the exterior. As in a city map, the main circulation route on Wilkinsons plan isdenoted in a different color (light orange) from the other laneways (white). Parking isconcealed underground, which improves walkability between buildings and allows forsocial activation around the building, which includes seating areas, grass lawns andorganic farms.

Building 43 Cross Section (Source: Metropolis Mag)

The main route is also punctuated by landmarks, or the main social nodes. Thesenodes all have adjacencies to other social areas. Google believes these adjacenciescreate interdependencies that enable work flow and social interaction.[6] Forexample, an outdoor courtyard is accessible through the kitchen, which is adjacent toa lounge and library. The kitchen/lounge/library combination is repeated at the farend of the building, but in the center of the building the kitchen and lounge sitadjacent to a game room. There are also tech stops in three locations (originallynamed i-bars on the Wilkinson diagram). According to Jeanice Gantus, atechnology manager at Google Mountain View, tech stops are similar to Genius Barsat the Apple store.[7]

In more densely packed working areas, a slice kitchen replaces the full kitchen butis still close by or next to another social area, be it an tech stop, lounge, or a copier.The slice kitchens are more akin to a smoothie bar. DEGW writes that one of thedirectives for design at Google was that density and proximity are key forinformation flow. [3] In Harvard Business Review, Anne-Laure Fayard and John



Weeks write about that photocopiers and other gathering points are wonderfulstimuli for informal interactions, because they give people natural reasons to launchinto conversation. [8]

The curvilinear shape of the main circulation route appears to have been derived fromfindings in a user focus group:

Source: DEGW (with Corenet Global) The Total Workplace at Google for GoogleBerlin. December 2008.

The circulation route was further developed into a Main Street lined with whatWilkinson calls shared-use building blocks. Much like Paul Goldbergers belief thatgood streets can matter more than buildings, all activity in Googleplex Building 43 isprogrammed from the buildings Main Street outwards. It was important to Googlethat the circulation was multi-functional [6] and that the neighborhoods hadpermeable boundaries. The architects sketches reveal many of his concepts, includingflow, shared-use and light:



Source: Metropolis Mag

The main atrium of the building is also activated with amenities that encourage use ofthe space for work purposes-the grand staircase is equipped with outlets for laptops

and wi-fi.




Another of the main criteria, according to DGWs Andrew Laing, was how to makeengineers communicate. [1] In addition to the physical configuration of workspace,sound and acoustic integrity were additional design points. However, despite beingfanatical about air quality and preservation of natural light, [2] the founders alsoinsisted on having offices alongside almost all of the windows. [2] Wilkinson solvedthis conundrum by creating glass tent offices that permitted light to flow in to themiddle of the building. The peak of the glass tent conceals infrastructure, includingHVAC, sprinklers and air diffuser, and the glass is made of acrylic-coated polyester tohelp reflect light. The glass tents can be built quickly, thus solving a critical need inGoogles immense expansion curve [9] at the time.




Because the founders were fond of working in dense conditions from the start-updays, the glass tents were designed to be shared by three employees. Nonetheless, thebuilding was not designed without concern to individual work space. The DEGWreview of key issues during the pre-design phase also included the need to support awide variety of spaces, including those for collaboration, quiet concentration,informal meetings, large scale gatherings, relaxation. This sketch from Wilkinsondemonstrates his ideas on the flow between public and private.




Finally, Googleplex has also embraced green initiatives. The buildings use onlysustainably harvested wood, the company actively reuses material from remodelingand the furniture is LEED and Cradle-to-Cradle certified. 9,212 photovoltaic panelssupply 1.6 megawatts of electricity or about 30% of peak electricity needs and solarpanels supply energy to the fleet of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.[2] Otherinitiatives include community bikes and an organic farm that supplies a portion of thecaf produce.



Clive Wilkinson Architects only built out Building 43 but Google constructed the restbased on the companys designs. Today, Googleplex consists of 20 buildings, whichcontain 19 cafs that serve 3 meals per day and 960 micro kitchens. But what makesGoogleplex successful as a design is that the architects recognized that Googlerswould want to put their own mark on the space. Laing says, What was brilliant aboutClive [Wilkinsons] design is that its a bright white, light space that becomes almost aneutral background for all the stuff they were going to throw at it. If you designed aspace that tried to be Googley, it would have been too much. [5] With contests forbest office space and a penchant for decorating with quirky objects, Google employeeshave activated the space and given it its personality. Daily, the Google office hosts 200pets in addition to its visitors, many surfaces are writeable for collaborative work andcapturing serendipitous brainstorms, and colorful additions are not unusual in theform of camping tents, wall decorations and patterned carpets. You can see part of theinterior using Google Maps Interior View. Search for Googleplex at 1600Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043 [Map]

Follow UntappedCities on Twitter and Facebook. Get in touch with the author at @UntappedMich. This article was written based on the original design of Building43. Shell be following up post a visit to Googleplex in January.

[1] Laing, Andrew (of DEGW). Presentation in Columbia University Real Estate class,



The Networked City. November 28, 2011.

[2] Chang, Jade. Behind the Glass Curtain. Metropolis Magazine. June 19, 2006.

[3] DEGW (with Corenet Global) The Total Workplace at Google for Google Berlin.December 2008.

[4] The Google Culture. http://www.google.com/about/corporate/company/culture.html

[5] Google, Life at the Googleplex (video). May 1, 2009.http://youtu.be/eFeLKXbnxxg

[6] CoreNet Global Summit Las Vegas. #1 The Google Philosophy. 2009.

[7] Gantus, Jeanice. Interview with the author. December 3, 2011.

[8] Fayard, Anne-Laure and John Weeks. Who Moved My Cube? HarvardBusiness Review. July 2011.

[9] Clive Wilkinson Architects. Google Headquarters. http://www.clivewilkinson.com/work/google_desc.html

googleplex, mountain view: designing interior spaces at an urban scale | untapped cities

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