After disclosing its first ideas for the new facility in 2013, Google officially opened its Bay View campus to employees. It's the first Google campus built by the tech giant, and it doesn't look anything like the conventional offices you're used to.
Bay View sits in the foreground with parts of Google’s Mountain View campus and the San Francisco Bay in the distance.
Google Opens Bay View HQ
CNBC reported that Google's newest campus in Mountain View, California opened this week.Officials say they hope to make it a place where employees in the company's advertising division feel more at ease returning to work for decades.
It should be noted that it's the company's first campus built from the ground up. Google's other campuses are pre-existing structures that the company has renovated.
Bay View, as seen from across its stormwater retention pond with a sunburst coming through the clerestory windows of the canopy.
The "Bay View" campus, built on 42 acres adjacent to NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, will house 4,000 personnel working on Google's ads products, headed by Vice President of Ads Jerry Dischler.
The whole structure consists of two office buildings, a 1,000-seat event center, and 240 temporary hotel units for employees who are only in town for a short period of time.
The new campus opens as the company slowly returns the majority of its employees to offices after a two-year period of remote work because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
An aerial photo of Google’s Bay View campus
Executives or spokespeople did not disclose the cost of the new campus. However, it's one of 20 major projects that will receive roughly $10 billion in funding this year.
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Other Features of the Bay View Campus
As per Engadget, one of the first things you'll notice about the new HQ is the roof, which from afar resembles dragonscales.
This "dragonscale skin" comprises 90,000 silver solar panels that can generate nearly seven megawatts of energy or up to 40% of the new offices' energy consumption.
Wind farms nearby will also provide the electricity required to power the all-electric HQ, which includes two kitchens with electric rather than gas-powered equipment.
With Bay View, a first-of-its-kind building-integrated solar panel called ‘dragonscale’ was developed to create a seamless design.
The largest geothermal installation in North America is also housed on the new campus, which will assist in heating and cooling the HQ without the usage of fossil fuels. Pumps are used in this geothermal pile system to absorb heat from the ground in the winter and to send heat back into the ground in the summer.
Bay View's mothership stair and the second-floor team neighborhoods.
The campus also includes automated window shades that let a lot of natural light in during the day, as well as a ventilation system that uses 100% outdoor air.
The outdoor courtyard between Bay View’s two primary buildings shows Google’s focus on connecting employees with nature.
On the other hand, CNBC mentioned that the campus features informal places, an on-site hotel, and various workspaces for groups of six to 10 people. Modular desks, open spaces, enclosed spaces, and see-through areas are all available.
A bird's-eye view of the second-floor workspace at Bay View shows how thousands of Googlers can be in a connected space with individual team neighborhoods under an inspiring canopy.
Natural light and high, perforated ceilings are among the other elements intended to make employees feel as if they are working outside. It contains privacy booths and tepee-shaped workstations that provide the impression of being on a "trail."
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